French Member of the European Parliament Manon Aubry has been hospitalized after being bitten by a viper, suffering complications from envenomation.
The 36-year-old lawmaker representing the left-wing party La France Insoumise shared the news on her Instagram account on Monday evening, August 17. She posted a photograph showing herself in a hospital bed while holding a copy of a book titled Mr. Malchance.
Writing to her followers, Aubry explained that a viper had bitten her and sent her to the hospital with complications related to venom. She noted that fewer than 300 viper bites occur annually in France and expressed surprise that the incident had happened to her.
The European Parliament member did not disclose the location of the bite or the specific circumstances under which she was bitten.
Hospital stay and cancelled events
Due to the injury, Aubry must keep her leg immobilized. The medical requirement forced her to cancel her planned appearance at the summer gathering of the party's youth wing, the Young Insoumis, which has been taking place since Monday in the Drôme department in southeastern France.
Despite the injury, Aubry promised to take part in the main La France Insoumise political return event scheduled to begin on Thursday near Valence, adding that she would participate even if she had to do so on one foot.
Aubry expressed her gratitude to the emergency room and intensive care healthcare staff who treated her. She praised France's public hospital system and pledged to continue fighting to secure adequate funding and resources for medical workers.
Viper bites in mainland France
Figures from the Clinical Toxicology Society show that an average of 300 viper bites are recorded each year in mainland France. The medical organization notes that a bite is brief, lasting only a few hundredths of a second, but leads to envenomation in more than half of all recorded cases.
Medical treatment for viper bites in France relies primarily on the prompt administration of antivenom.
Aubry serves as a member of the European Parliament for La France Insoumise, a prominent French left-wing political party. The department of Drôme, where the youth gathering is taking place, is located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France, near its capital city of Valence.
