A Queensland woman has abruptly woken up after one of the world's most deadly snakes slithered into her bed and bit her on the hand.
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The woman in her 20s is lucky to be alive after being attacked by an eastern brown while sleeping at a remote property west of Brisbane early on Friday morning.
Her family were quick to apply a bandage to the bite before she was transported to Toowoomba hospital in a stable condition by an RACQ LifeFlight helicopter.
To prove it was not all a bad dream, a picture was taken of the snake sticking its head out from under the doona at the Western Downs property.
"It would have been pretty terrifying," LifeFlight medical director Jeff Hooper told AAP.
"I think this lady was just incredibly unlucky.
"It's a nightmare scenario, enough to keep you up at night."
The woman is no doubt resting easy though after avoiding a much worse fate.
The eastern brown is the world's second-most venomous snake behind the Australian inland taipan.
There have been cases in Australia where an eastern brown bite victim has gone into cardiac arrest "almost immediately", Dr Hooper said.
Most have "minutes to hours" to seek treatment depending on the amount of venom in their system.
"They are very toxic snakes," Dr Hooper said.
Fortunately the woman's family did everything right after her rude awakening.
They put a pressure bandage over the bite and up her arm while keeping her still.
"That's really important because it restricts the flow of the venom to the rest of the body," Dr Hooper said.
"She was very fortunate that they did that because without that it can be really life threatening."
Dr Hooper said snakes were more active during the Australian summer and encounters with humans were common.
However he conceded Friday's incident was "unusual".
"It's not every day someone gets bitten by one of the deadliest snakes in Australia while they are in bed," he laughed.
Australian Associated Press
