Many people who survive bites nevertheless suffer from permanent tissue damage caused by venom, leading to disability. Most snake envenomings and fatalities occur in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, with India reporting the most snakebite deaths of any country.
Professor Richard Franklin from James Cook University's College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences said the study looked at snakebites in 2019. He said two people died in Australia that year from snakebites in contrast to more than 51,000 deaths in India.
Fatal snake bites have become relatively rare since the introduction of a national antivenom program, with two people dying per year on average.
Even more impressive, Australia is home to 20 of the 25 most venomous snakes in the world, including all of the top 11. The world's most venomous snake, the inland taipan is found nowhere else on Earth. It is also called the fierce snake, and carries enough venom in a single bite to kill around 250,000 mice.
The black mamba, for example, injects up to 12 times the lethal dose for humans in each bite and may bite as many as 12 times in a single attack. This mamba has the fastest-acting venom of any snake, but humans are much larger than its usual prey so it still takes 20 minutes for you to die.
Q: What snake KILLS THE MOST PEOPLE every year? A: It is either the Asian Cobra group (Naja sp.) and/or Saw-scaled vipers (Echis sp.)
South Australia
Sand dunes are common breeding grounds for snakes of this region. Most of the venomous tend to be in this area. This is because it receives large amounts of sun but at the same time allows for enough cover for protection.
Other continents have several ancestors that may or may not have been venomous, but Australia's 140 terrestrial and 30 marine snake species all evolved from one venomous ancestor.
Introducing the most venomous snake in the world and epic predator of the Australian outback! The inland taipan is otherwise known as the fierce snake or small scaled snake.
The Coastal Taipan is often regarded as the most dangerous snake in Australia. They are extremely nervous and alert snakes, and any movement near them is likely to trigger an attack.
When bitten by a snake, the Jaanga First Nations people of inland Queensland survived by laying down under a tree and not moving a muscle for four to five days while their people brought them food and water.
The estimated incidence of snakebites annually in Australia is between 3 and 18 per 100,000 with an average mortality rate of 0.03 per 100,000 per year, or roughly 1 to 2 persons, down from 13 persons per year in the 1920s.
Snakes are most active during snake season, which typically begins around September and runs until April. "You're really looking at spring, summer and early autumn for the active months," Billy Collett, operations manager at the Australian Reptile Park on NSW's Central Coast, told 9news.com.au.
Compared to other countries with many snake species, Australia has orders of magnitude fewer snakebites and related deaths. South Africa has 476 snakebite deaths on average every year. By contrast, Australia has two or three.
No state is “free” of snakes. But Tasmania does only have three species: Tiger, Lowland Copperhead and White-lipped, the mainland has over 140. All three Tasmanian species are capable of injecting venom, although the venom of the White-lipped snake has never been recorded as causing death to a human.
Common Death Adder (Acanthophis antarcticus)
The 'death' in this snake's name is not a bluff – the common death adder can deliver the fastest strike among all venomous snakes recorded in Australia. It is capable of causing human death within six hours after a bite.
1. Green Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punculata) – this non-venomous snake is quite commonplace in Australia, and can be found in areas where there is thick vegetation.
1. Canberra – Australia's Capital City. Nestled between Sydney and Melbourne, Canberra is not only the capital but also Australia's safest city. With a low crime rate and a small-town vibe, Canberra offers an attractive blend of city living and peaceful suburban life.
Norfolk Island is a very safe place to visit. There are no snakes on the island, and most of our spiders are harmless (even the big ones).
The Jurassic Park-style island, Mount Chappell, is said to be home to Australia's largest and most venomous tiger snakes.
If there's a family of snakes you don't want to anger, it would be the vipers. While these snakes don't always have the most deadly bites, they have the most painful ones. Van Wallach of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology has had several viper bites; the worst one, he said, "came from an African bush viper.
Don't apply ice on the snake bite as the ice may block blood circulation. Don't suck the blood out with your mouth (germs in the mouth may cause infection in the bite wound) and you may be also exposing yourself to the venom. Don't attempt to cut the wound.
Rather than non-IgE-mediated immediate hypersensitivity, patients receiving the second treatment of antivenom may develop IgE-mediated immediate hypersensitivity. Once happened, the antivenom treatment should be stopped promptly and anti-allergy treatment should be given immediately.