AN ANT LEFT VENOM SCARS ALL OVER MY SKIN
With VID AND PIX
By Todd Sasin
A solo-traveller was left bewildered after suddenly falling ill, leaving her with blister marks on her face.
Asia Songhurst was left reeling from ‘embarrassment’ after witnessing her face after she had come into contact with venom from a three-chambered ant.
After waking up one morning and feeling unwell, Asia initially chose to ignore her headache and temperate symptoms and continued to try and enjoy her exploration in Vietnam.
However, as days went on Asia felt worse and had little signs of improvement, she sought medical attention where she was shocked to learn an ant had injected venom into her skin – prompting red marks to appear.
The 22-year-old who is from Wiltshire, UK, said: “I woke up one morning and I had a really bad headache and temperature, and I just felt generally really under the weather.
“I looked at my face during the day, and I’ve seen it getting a little bit red and then in the evening it started to blister and looked really disgusting.
“I went straight to a pharmacy, and the pharmacist sent pictures of my face and legs to a doctor and dermatologist, and they all agreed it was a three-chambered ant.”
Asia had come into contact with the ant, which is also known as a rove beetle, which caused her flu-like symptoms and blisters while travelling in Hội An.
Wanting to spread awareness and share her unique story, Asia, took to social media to do so, despite having lingering feelings of embarrassment and an initial lack of confidence.
The first few days of experiencing her symptoms, Asia initially put it down to the air-condition after also having a bad chest.
Asia admitted how at first, she didn’t think much about her symptoms and marks before it eventually reached the point where she was unable to get out of bed.
At first, she consulted a pharmacy where she was allegedly told she could have shingles, but after further research, Asia quickly dismissed that before eventually receiving the diagnosis of venom.
Speaking about her story, Asia said: “I was going on a day trip that day with my friend and I just couldn’t even get myself out of bed.
“I woke up the next day, and it was just getting worse and worse and there was no doctor on the island. I found a pharmacy, but I was unsure of the legitimacy of the pharmacy because it was just a lady in her pyjamas in her sliders.
“She looked at me, and she was like ‘I think it’s shingles’, so I looked up images of shingles, and it didn’t really look like it.
“It didn’t bite me, it just crawled on my skin and it’s not like acid or hot water where you feel it straight away.
“It is 15 times stronger than cobra venom. I have survived venom that is stronger than a freaking cobra!”
ENDS
