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NEWS STRAITS TIMES (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) 02 December 06 Snake king Ali Khan dies (Shahrul Hafeez and P. Chandra Sagaran)
Kuala Lumpur: Snake King Ali Khan Samsuddin, who mesmerised audience playing with snakes and scorpions, has died after being bitten by a King Cobra.
The 48-year-old was bitten on his left hand by a six-metre long King Cobra while performing at a snake show here on Tuesday.
He was given outpatient treatment at Kuala Lumpur Hospital because his condition was reported to be not serious.
Ali Khan, staying with his brother, had on Thursday night complained of feeling weak, had swellings on his body and his arm became dark. He died at 1am yesterday morning.
He was buried at Kampung Jambu Muslim cemetery in Taiping.
His son, Amjad Khan, 21, said his father had telephoned the family to tell them that he had been bitten by the snake but advised them not to be alarmed because he was all right.
"This morning (Friday) we were told that he had died," said Amjad, as he broke down and had to be consoled by relatives in their Taman Bersatu home in Taiping.
It was barely a year ago that Ali Khan had allowed Amjad to do snake charming shows solo.
He said he now planned to carry on his father’s legacy.
Amjad said his father had been in snake shows for 25 years, and was inducted into the Guinness World Records in 1998 after living with 6,000 scorpions for 21 days.
Seven years ago, he created another record, staying with 400 cobras for 40 days.
His feats earned him the title Raja Ular or Snake King.
Ali Khan leaves a wife, Mau Boh Bee Dastagir, 48, and five children.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20061202101244/Article/index_html

THE STAR (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) 02 December 06 Snake king Ali Khan dies from cobra bite (Christina Koh)
Photo at URL below: Daring Feat: Ali Khan receiving a ‘kiss’ from a cobra during a performance at a snake exhibition at the State Museum in Kota Baru in a May 14, 2000 file photo. (Bernamapic)
Taiping: Malaysia’s snake king Ali Khan Samsudin, 48, died as he had lived – handling the reptiles that he loved.
His eldest son Amjad Khan, 21, said his father had been performing at a show in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday when he was bitten by a King Cobra.
Ali Khan, who regularly performs with his beloved snakes for charity and for a living, died at 1am yesterday at Kuala Lumpur Hospital where he had been recuperating.
Amjad Khan related that when his father contacted him on Tuesday to tell him he had been bitten, the family had not been too worried.
“He had been bitten by snakes many times before, including three times by King Cobras. The first King Cobra bit him in Taiping when he was 21.
“So we didn’t think anything would happen. I was just relaks saja (calm),” said Amjad Khan at their flat in Kampung Boyan here yesterday.
On Thursday night, his condition took a turn for the worse. Family members here received a call from Amjad Khan’s uncle to go to the hospital.
“We rushed from Taiping at 11.30pm, but by the time we arrived he was already gone. We didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye,” said the son.
“Maybe his body couldn’t take it any more because of his diabetes.”
He leaves behind five children aged 13 to 23 from wives Mau Boh Bee, 48, and Jumabee Mohd Ibrahim, 33. Amjad Khan, who also works as a snake handler, said he would continue his father’s work despite the tragedy.
“Many of my father’s shows have been cancelled, but this is a trade that has been passed down for five generations,” he said, adding that his uncle Husein Dasthagir, 48, also worked with snakes.
“It’s our way of life and we can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Well known for his daring feats with cobras, Ali Khan had also made it into the 1997 Guinness Book of World Records, living in a glass enclosure filled with more than 5,000 scorpions for 21 days. He set another record by living with 400 snakes for 40 days.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/2/nation/16206464&sec=nation

MALAYSIAKINI (Malaysia) 05 December 06 Could Snake King have been saved? (Ahmad Sobri)
I refer to the malaysiakini report Cobra kills ‘Snake King’.
Ali Khan Samsuddin had initially sought treatment at the outpatient department of the KL Hospital for an injury deemed ‘minor’ but subsequently developed darkening of the affected hand and died rather quickly early Friday morning, three days later as a result reportedly of complications attributed to his underlying diabetes mellitus.
Snake bites can be serious but could the ‘Snake King’ been saved?
It is rather puzzling how in the first place, this diabetic with a snake bite was allowed home and treated as an outpatient. And even if he was in septicemia with diabetes the second time round, how is it that the KL Hospital (presumably one of the better-equipped ministry of health hospitals) couldn’t save this Malaysian icon. Was Ali Khan really seriously ill or our health services lackadaisical? Perhaps a short tutorial on snake bites is in order.
Most snakebites are inflicted on body extremities. Bites on the hands and fingers are common. Local tissue damage is of primary concern. Cobra venom can affect patients variably. Although the venoms of these cobras contain neurotoxins, necrosis often is the chief or only manifestation.
Cobra venoms have been studied extensively and can cause either, neurological, cardiotoxic, coagulation problems and local necrosis. The Naja philippinensis (Philippine cobra) venom is the most toxic followed by the Naja naja (Indian cobra) and the Naja haje (Egyptian cobra).
Emergency care consists of prompt movement of the victim to a medical facility capable of rendering advanced care during the pre-hospital care including airway support, anti-venom administration, monitoring of vital signs and saline infusions. Other maneuvers include proximal compression and immobilisation.
All persons who have been bitten by a cobra should be treated as if a severe envenomation has occurred. Anti-venom is the only proven therapy for significant snake bites. About 20 laboratories in Africa, Asia, and Europe produce cobra anti-venoms. Some are monovalent, but most are polyvalent against venoms of all the important snakes of a nation or region. Once the anti-venom is located, the doctor may need assistance from the police or military to facilitate its rapid transport.
If possible, the anti-venom should have antibodies against venom of the cobra species that inflicted the bite. The definitive therapy for cobra venom poisoning is anti-venom administration, which should be started as soon as possible if evidence of systemic envenoming is present. The tetanus status is updated if necessary and antibiotic prophylaxis may be necessary if there is underlying infection.
People bitten by cobras should be cared for in a facility capable of intensive monitoring. Complications can include respiratory failure/arrest, cardiovascular collapse, prolonged neuromuscular weakness, tissue necrosis, antivenom-related complications, anaphylactoid reactions and delayed serum sickness.
Prognosis is good. Many patients recover with no specific treatment. The neurotoxic effects of cobra venom are completely reversible, though recovery may take up to six days. Reports of death within one hour of a cobra bite exist, but a time frame of 2-6 hours is more typical of fatal cases. With sound supportive care and appropriate, prompt anti-venom administration, recovery from cobra envenomation can be anticipated.
From media reports, Ali Khan sustained local necrosis which as a result of lack of monitoring could have worsened as a result of his diabetes. It is uncertain if he received any anti-venom administration. But extensive necrosis with his underlying diabetes may have caused his general condition to deteriorate causing him to present emergently at the KL Hospital.
By this stage, he would have developed septicemia and diabetic ketoacidosis, in which case a focused critical care team would have been his only hope that Friday night. Whether he had the services of this team or was the team up to the mark is uncertain. But Malaysia’s 48-year-old ‘Snake King’ is no more.
It is rather appalling that the response times of our current emergency services are already mired with excuses such as lack of ambulances, etc, but to now have patients die when they have actually reached hospital does not augur well for our healthcare system.
The Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Regulations 2006 Act was instituted to ‘regulate’ private hospitals and clinics. Perhaps now the health minister and his director-general can enlighten the Malaysian public how they are now going to ‘regulate’ our atrocious emergency and outpatient services that actually kills patients during the in hospital phase.
Are they going to fine or jail government doctors or administrators or is there going to be one rule for the private sector and another for government hospitals?
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/60531

MALAYSIAKINI (Malaysia) 05 December 06 Letter: Snake King should have been admitted - Beyond Logic
I refer to the malaysiakini report Cobra kills 'Snake King'.
While feeling extremely sorry and empathising with the family of 'Snake King' Ali Khan Samsuddin over his untimely and tragic death, I am also baffled to read from our newspapers that "... he was given outpatient treatment at Kuala Lumpur Hospital because his condition was reported to be not serious."
If this is so, then I think there is something not right in the normal management of patients with snake bites unless an otherwise there has been a 'breakthrough' in managing snake bites which I am not aware off.
Any medically-trained personnel worth his salt would agree that all patients with snake bites are to be admitted for in-patient management, basically for observation and certain investigations.
This becomes much more imperative when the type of snake is not known. In Ali Khan’s case, the question of whether to admit or not to admit does not arise at all because of the glaring fact that it was a king cobra that bit him.
The potency of the neurotoxin in the venom is common knowledge and the amount injected into the individual is also beyond easy measure. As such nothing short of an immediate admission for observation would suffice.
It does not fit into my rational sense as to how could a person with a 'king cobra' bite be given out-patient treatment. Please don't tell me this is also 'Malaysia Boleh.'
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/60530