421,000 people poisoned by snakebites each year: study
Tue Nov 4, 2:09 am ET

HONG KONG (Reuters) – More than 400,000 people are poisoned by snakebites worldwide each year and 20,000 of them die, with most cases occurring in the poorest countries, researchers say.
In an article published in U.S.-based open access Public Library of Science Medicine, the researchers said the burden from snakebites was highest in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Data on snakebites is far from comprehensive as most of them happen in places with poor healthcare systems and where record-keeping is generally poor or non-existent.
For this study, the researchers trawled through 3,256 published articles and extracted data on 68 countries.
They said, according to a conservative estimate, there are 421,000 cases of envenoming, or venom delivered through biting, each year and which lead to at least 20,000 deaths.
But the actual figures could be several times higher.
"These figures may be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths. Based on the fact that envenoming occurs in about one in every four snakebites, between 1.2 million and 5.5 million snakebites could occur annually," wrote the team led by Janaka de Silva at the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka.
India has the highest figures -- with 81,000 envenomings and 11,000 deaths each year, followed by Sri Lanka with 33,000 envenomings, Vietnam (30,000), Brazil (30,000), Mexico (28,000) and Nepal (20,000).
The researchers stressed that snakebite was a badly neglected problem in many countries as they often go unreported.
"Many victims do not seek hospital treatment and prefer traditional remedies. Some may die at home, with their deaths unrecorded," they wrote.
"Studies from rural Nigeria and Kenya have reported that only 8.5 percent and 27 percent of snakebite victims, respectively, sought hospital treatment."
The article can be found at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050218
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

The areas that seem to have the most lethal reptiles also seem to have the least medical care available. I'm glad to be an American.

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The sheer variety of snakes in India and the distance from rural areas to a hospital pose a serious problem there. Also most doctors are not snake aware, my friend runs Snake Cell, a non profit NGO devoted to conservation of snakes. He took a random survey of hospitals across the country to find that most doctors had no familiarity with different types of snakes around and hence were unable to give the right antidote.

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That does not make me feel better about doctors trained in India practicing in the US of A.

I wouldn't worry about it, they are top notch, they need to literally walk on fire and hell to qualify and usually do quite well, they have been doing so since he 60s in UK, US and other parts of the earth. Snakebite treatment is a different issue and has nothing to do with competence of doctors, its more of a administration priority issue. Depending on the success of most Indian doctors in US, its a surefire indicator of their competence. Of course there are exceptions, but that goes for US trained doctors as well and in good numbers so its a toss up.

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Yep...I wouldn't go picking on Indian doctors either...I know of a few American docs that need to have their license yanked...

BTW, I'd be willing to bet that there are quite a few more varieties of deadly snakes in India vs. the US...and when some snake is chomping on your lower regions, identifing the type of snake USUALLY isn't very high on the priority scale...it's probably more like...

HOLY F*C*!!!
A DAMN SNAKE IS EATING ME ALIVE!!!
I'M GOING TO DIE!!!

Personal experience...I grabbed ahold of a garter snake a little too far back from its head...he wheeled around a chomped down on my finger...first off, I knew it was a garter snake...non-venomous...but that little "spin & nip" caused me to fling that little bas***d about a block away...and I really didn't care to see if he landed OK.

Now, if you're out in the bush and SOMETHING bites your ankle, leg or foot...I hardly think for one moment you're going to bend down, grab it safely and study it for the sake of determining its gender and makeup DNA-wise...you're going stark raving nuts trying to get the hell out of its grasp/bite/whatever...and putting as much distance between it and you...all the while, driving the venon deeper into the tissue and into your system...

Yep, you're snake-bait at that point...

I guess in the US you have a better chance of surviving due to the fact that whatever we have as poisonous snakes seem to be isolated in their own areas and not all concentrated into one, they seem to stick to their own type of terrain features that they're comfortable in and usually, there's enough medical knowledge easily available in the US to help out a victim should you run into the situation that readily identifing the type of snake might be difficult.

Yep, the US might beat India as the best place to get bit, treated and be able to survive...

I'll just leave the flip-flops at home and put on the hikers and long pants when I head into the woods...it's the damn deer-ticks that have me doing the heebee-jeebee dancing...

(Although, I don't mind having a good, ole "tick-check" with the lady when I get home... )

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True, where I live in India, three of the most poisonous deadly snakes on earth, namely Russel's Viper, Crete and King Cobra inhabit. We had a Russel's Viper in our backyard making the vacuum noise, lucky for us he didnt' attack or bite our dogs or us, we thought it was a gas cylinder leak and were checking it out till we suspected something else and called our friend Mr. Snake cell who told us to lock up and hide which we did. If bitten by Russel's Viper, you die of implosion, that is your blood vessels literally explode from inside, quite painful and gory death. Lucky for us, it went away on its own, my guess is the Mongoose living near our house chased it in.

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I've had two encounters within two weeks, with two BIG Western Diamondback rattlesnakes! One in my driveway, and one by our community mailbox. This is the time of year that they are on the move here in Arizona, looking for warm places to sun themselves. One has to be aware at all times when outside, they can hide everywhere! These are viscious snakes (vipers)!

This past summer, I had the pleasure of responding to two separate snakebite incidents (I am a street medic). In both cases the snake was a copperhead, the most common poisonous snake in this part of Virginia.

The correct procedure while waiting for help is counter intuitive; Call 911 first (everyone has a cell phone these days), keep the bite site (usually an extremity) as low as possible, way below the level of your heart and do not put ice on it. Ice hastens the tissue necrosis. You should transport to the closest facility unless there is one nearby that is known to keep a stock of anti-venin. We have two in the Richmond region.

Don't slash the bite site and for God's sake don't try to suck the poison out. That cowboy **** only works in the movies. You are more likely to cause an infection that is worse than the bite. Here in the U.S.A. snakebite is rarely fatal. You will however get so sick you feel as though you will have to get better to die.

I saw a pretty large copperhead (maybe 4 ft & fat) Sunday while on a hike with my daughter. Seemed already in winter lethargy, but was sunning in the middle of a hiking trail. It was mid-sixties, and I was a little surprised to see it out.

My college herpetology class lab (voluntarily) used to catch and milk poisonous snakes for use to make antivenom at the Medical University of South Carolina.

rocky--do you remember the short-lived panacea for snake bites that involved electrical shock from a car battery? Something about ionizing the venom......

Two hunters were walking in the woods when one of them got bit in the groin. They tried to go back but it was hurting the guy so much he had to sit down. He told his friend that he thought the poison was spreading and if he sat down, it wouldn't spread as fast and he wouldn't hurt as much. He also told the friend to go get help. His friend ran to the truck and went into town. Unfortunately, the doctor was elsewhere and the nurse told him that all he'd have to do is suck out the poison and bring the friend in. By then the doctor should be back. The man runs back to his friend who was still alive. The guy asked "What did the doctor say?". The friend said "I'm sorry but the doctor says you are going to die and there is nothing we can do to help you.".

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aklim, do you know how old that joke is? Cave men first told the first version of that joke. You deserve to get bit for that old dusty joke!

If you think a snake bite is hazardous to your health take a look at the hospital bill when it is all over. A friend, whose son was bitten by a coral snake, told me that the anti-venom cost over $1k a shot. The kid required 15 or so doses. I think that in the end the entire procedure cost about $50k.

There was the alternative of leave it be.

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