50 Hospitalised After Eating Cow Bitten By Snake In South Africa

Over 50 people from Mpoza village outside Tsolo were rushed to various hospitals around Mthatha on Thursday , after eating meat from a cow that had reportedly died from a snake bite.
Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the patients were initially ferried to Dr Malizo Mpehle Memorial Hospital in Tsolo , where some of them reported that they had eaten the meat from the carcass of an animal that had died after being bitten by a snake.

He said the patients experienced diarrhoea, vomiting, headaches and stomach cramps .
Among those who were ill were 16 children, eight of whom had been transferred to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital ' s paediatric ward, while the others were treated at Mthatha Regional Hospital .
Kupelo said four elderly patients were also transferred to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital for further treatment .
" Given the mass casualty nature of the incident, St Barnabas Hospital in Libode has also been put on standby to create space for additional patients that don' t require tertiary or regional services, " he said.
Kupelo said the department was urging communities to stop consuming meat from dead animals as it was dangerous to do so.