When a farmer in southwestern China was bitten by a cobra, his panicked wife instantly sucked out the venom as she mimicked what she had seen on television, only to end up being poisoned herself.

The old man was working in his field in Yuanyang county, Yunnan province, when the cobra bit his finger, the Jimu News reported.

His wound soon became swollen and he felt dizzy and weak. It was then that his flustered wife applied the rescue method she had seen on television by directly sucking out the venom without any protective measures.

Her husband was sent to hospital. However, hours later, his wife began to develop numbness in her mouth, tongue, face and limbs. She felt serious fatigue the next day, prompting her family to send her to hospital.

Doctors at Honghe Prefecture No 3 People’s Hospital diagnosed the couple had been poisoned by a local species of cobra and received injections of antivenom serum and other medical treatment.

The couple were discharged from the hospital a few days later after their condition stabilised.