Saloni Dattani Substack How many people die from snakebites? https://salonium.substack.com/p/14-how-many-people-die-from-snakebites Study: Trends in snakebite deaths in India from 2000 to 2019 in a nationally representative mortality study (Suraweera et al., 2020) Here’s a statistic that might surprise you: Around 1 in 270 people in India die from snakebites by the age of 70. In total, around 50,000 to 60,000 people in India die from snakebites each year. In Australia, which is home to the most-venomous snakes in the world, that number is 2. Just two. Many more people live in India than Australia, so here’s another comparison. In India, the chances of dying after a venomous snakebite are about 3.8%. In Australia, the chances are 0.06%, about sixty times lower.1 If you aren’t from India, these statistics are probably new to you. But they are also surprising to many people from the country. more at link. ---------------------------------------------------- Rather off topic but I was struck by the 1:270 figure which is also (roughly) the (annual not life time) prevalence rate frequently quoted for ME/CFS in the UK. It's useful to some times remember when we discuss ME/CFS as a global disease (20 million PwME) that there may be other more immediate health worries for much of the world's population. Per capita if ME/CFS has an equal global spread India will have around 20% of all PwME, and each year some 220 of those will die of snake bite.
In Central Texas there are 4 different types of poisonous snakes. My doctor's mom was weeding in her garden and was bitten by a rattlesnake. He got her in the car and started calling emergency rooms and asking if they had antivenom. Luckily, one hospital had it, but there is a shortage of antivenom here. It's a good thing he knew that.
