A British man who contracted malaria, dengue fever and Covid-19 while working for a charity in India is now battling to recover from a venomous cobra bite.
After running the gauntlet of the infectious diseases, Ian Jones was bitten by the deadly snake in a village near Jodhpur in western India’s Rajasthan state. While fortunate to survive the bite, he is now suffering with blindness and leg paralysis.
The Isle of Wight man’s family say he spent nearly two weeks in intensive care but has now left the hospital because of a shortage of beds and a high number of coronavirus patients. Jones is “very frightened” by his condition but his doctors are hopeful he can make a full recovery.
“Dad is a fighter, during his time out in India he had already suffered from malaria and dengue fever before Covid-19,” his son, Seb Jones, said on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay his father’s medical bills and travel back to the UK.
The former healthcare worker runs a charity that helps traditional craftsmen in Rajasthan import their goods into Britain to help them trade their way out of poverty.
When the pandemic broke out, Jones elected to stay in India to help support the community where the charity operates. “When we heard he had also suffered what is usually a fatal snake bite on top of all that he had been through, we honestly could not believe it,” his son added.
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