Woman Thought She Was Stung by a Bee, but It Wasn’t

Ambulance waits outside a hospital.Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

A woman walked into a steakhouse in Southpoint, Virginia, and felt a sharp pain.

Rachel Myrick’s first thought was that she was stung by a bee or a hornet, according to Fredericksburg.com.

As she walked, the pain got worse. She dropped her phone, keys, and her son’s hand.

“I had my fingers under my foot and that’s when I felt something moving,” said Myrick.

Apparently, she had been bitten twice on her toes by an 8-inch-long copperhead snake that got into the restaurant. It was still stuck in her foot as she tried to get it loose.

“The family thought I had fallen. I reached over to grab my foot. I dropped my phone, dropped my wallet, clutched my foot and that is when I felt it moving underneath my fingers,” she recalled to Fox5.

“I freaked out,” said Myrick. She recalled yelling: “I got bit! I got bit!”

Michael Clem, her boyfriend, then said there “was no question what it was”—a copperhead.

He and another stomped on it to kill it, but they had to leave it there for the EMTs to confirm what it was.

“Every second girl would walk by and scream,” he said.

As she waited for an ambulance, Myrick’s foot began to swell. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was given antivenin, The Associated Press reported.

It will likely take her three months to fully recover from the copperhead bite.

Copperhead snakes, which are endemic to east coast of North America. They grow to an average length of 20 to 37 inches. The color pattern is a pale tan to pinkish tan ground color that becomes darker towards the foreline.

“I was holding hands with my son, and had he been on the other side of me, this could have been him. I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone but am so thankful it didn’t happen to a child,” Myrick said, per Dearly.

She added to the website: “Count your blessings and be thankful for the moments you are able to live your life on your own terms and in your own way. I can’t walk on my own and can’t drive — so my life (and my children’s lives) are now at the hands and mercy of those around me. I am forever grateful for the love and support I am surrounded by. My boyfriend, children, parents, and friends have been amazing, and I would be lost without them.”

Deadly ‘Zombie’ Deer Disease Could Possibly Spread to Humans

Experts from the University of Minnesota told lawmakers in Minnesota that a deadly illness that affects deer could spread to humans.

Some of the known carriers of CWD are mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, and moose. CDC

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), sometimes known as “zombie deer disease” because of how it makes the ruminant animals look in its final stages.

The U.S. Geological Survey describes the disease as a “fatal, neurological illness occurring in North American cervids (members of the deer family), including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose.”

It can cause disorientation, abnormal behavior, and ultimately death. “Infected animals can live for at least 16 months before dying, and their blood, tissues, and fecal material can remain a source of new infections for years after death,” said the University of Minnesota on its website.