# Snake bite statistics for Australia



## Snake_Whisperer (Nov 5, 2011)

I have spent the last hour scouring the internet for current statistics on snake bite fatalities in Australia, with no luck. I've been to all the usual suspects, AVRU, ABS, AIHW, etc, But nothing has turned up. Wikipedia has what appears to be an excellent table on the subject but I've been through their references and could not find the source of that info. 

Trying to put together an article but without cold hard stats, I'm a bit stumped.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Aaron


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## ianinoz (Nov 5, 2011)

Maybe if you check the government / health department / regional stats for each state or from the fed government or if you do a metastudy using a university library search of the scientific literature. 

You don't need to be a student to access university library websites. Though you will need to access to a student account to access the full text in any papers or articles you locate with such a search or you'll need to visit a library to see the article or paper.


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## waruikazi (Nov 5, 2011)

This is an old paper from the NT. In the years between 1989 and 2003 there were no deaths from snake bites in the NT but it does have good statistics on clinical symptoms. 

I know of one death from Alice after that paper was published.

eMJA: Snakebite in tropical Australia: a prospective study in the &ldquo;Top End&rdquo; of the Northern Territory

I hope that is a good start for you.


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## grizz (Nov 5, 2011)

This wouldn't have anything to do with the piece in the courier mail yesterday would it Aaron?


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## ianinoz (Nov 5, 2011)

Is an indication of how infrequent serious snake bites are in this country and how fundamentally shy even the deadly snakes are that you hear of people being bitten by them so rarely and how rare it is nowadays to die of snake (and spider) bite.

You'd think grey nomads who are doing their 4x4 fishing and siteseeing safaries in extremely remote locations (the Cape, Pilbura, Kimberleys and central deserts) would be at high risk due to inaccessibly to hospitals or doctors or to antivenine.


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## AndrewHenderson (Nov 5, 2011)

List of fatal snake bites in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

only fatal bites though

http://www.nchirt.qut.edu.au/consultancy/amdig/workshops/documents/2003WinkelSlides.pdf

I think that wiki got their stats from Births deaths and marriages


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## Jonno from ERD (Nov 5, 2011)

G'day Aaron,

Flick me an email and I should be able to help you with whatever you need. Also, do a search of my previous threads...I started one 2-3 years ago that had all sorts of current statistics.


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## mmafan555 (Nov 5, 2011)

waruikazi said:


> This is an old paper from the NT. In the years between 1989 and 2003 there were no deaths from snake bites in the NT but it does have good statistics on clinical symptoms.
> 
> I know of one death from Alice after that paper was published.
> 
> ...




Thanks for the link..I will look at it now


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## Snake_Whisperer (Nov 5, 2011)

waruikazi said:


> This is an old paper from the NT. In the years between 1989 and 2003 there were no deaths from snake bites in the NT but it does have good statistics on clinical symptoms.
> 
> I know of one death from Alice after that paper was published.
> 
> ...



Thanks Gordo. I did find that one this morning, looking more for nationwide stats though, or at the inside, Qld since we seem to have the highest instances of fatalities on a state to state basis. 



grizz said:


> This wouldn't have anything to do with the piece in the courier mail yesterday would it Aaron?



 



ianinoz said:


> Is an indication of how infrequent serious snake bites are in this country and how fundamentally shy even the deadly snakes are that you hear of people being bitten by them so rarely and how rare it is nowadays to die of snake (and spider) bite.
> 
> You'd think grey nomads who are doing their 4x4 fishing and siteseeing safaries in extremely remote locations (the Cape, Pilbura, Kimberleys and central deserts) would be at high risk due to inaccessibly to hospitals or doctors or to antivenine.



Yes, our fatality numbers are somewhere between 3-4 PA so I'd like to see what I can put together that involves actual facts and figures, as opposed to "HEY MA! Get me shovel!"



AndrewHenderson said:


> List of fatal snake bites in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> only fatal bites though
> 
> ...



Yeh, that's the wiki table I mentioned earlier. Even if it's accurate, it states that it omits the most important figure, the number of deaths caused by interference with the animals.



Jonno from ERD said:


> G'day Aaron,
> 
> Flick me an email and I should be able to help you with whatever you need. Also, do a search of my previous threads...I started one 2-3 years ago that had all sorts of current statistics.



EDIT: Ah, if you mean this thread from 2008, yeh, I have that info on file unfortunately it is a bit dated. http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-snakes-37/snakebite-fatality-information-89473/ What I'm after is a source for current info and it seems in shortsupply. I would have thought the AVRU would have it but nothing on their site. I'll send them an email on monday to see what I can pull up.


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## mikey_mike (Nov 8, 2011)

When you're lucking at the data just a word of caution. The statistics on total number of snake bites are from emergency department diagnoses. I work in ED in the NT & I've only seen a few confirmed snake bites, but have seen heaps of people who have been concerned that they may have been bitten by a snake. They all get admitted for observations as we can't be certain - hence they all get a diagnosis of snake bite.


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## slim6y (Nov 8, 2011)

Call the universities - that's the best place to start.

At JCU there are PhD students studying compression bandages (for the life of me I can't recall the name of the person in charge of the study, but I am positive if you called JCU (Cairns) they'd point you in the right place).

Plus more local universities to you will also be privy to this information.


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## Bluetongue1 (Nov 12, 2011)

Hi *Snake_Whisperer*, 

I only read this thread a couple of days back. Sometime last year (I think) I was doing some research on deaths due to snake bite versus bees, wasps, horses and dogs in Australia. I came across a study which from memory is the one done by the Venom Research Unit at Melbourne Uni. You have the link above. The study that I read included looking at the circumstances resulting in the bite. The results were grouped and presented as a table. For example, something like 40% of fatal bites resulted from people stepping on snakes whereas only 5% resulted from people trying to kill the snake. I remember being quite surprised, as you so often hear people quote the latter activity as a major source of fatalities. 

Anyway, I spent an hour or two trying to locate that table again but to no avail. I am thinking that maybe the VRU did have it but have since removed it from their mortality study write-up. Sorry I couldn’t be of more assistance.

Blue


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## Vegez (Nov 12, 2011)

Snakewhisperer,
You can find all the info on this on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.

www.abs.gov.au

Hope this helps.


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## Snake_Whisperer (Nov 12, 2011)

Hey Vegez, how goes your battle mate? Yeh, ABS was my second port of call but I could not find any useable information there.I have sent a few emails out into the ether, am now waitng for replies.

Cheers,
A


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## Boidae (Nov 12, 2011)

Some stats down the bottom, good read as well..
Australia's Venomous Snakes: The Modern Myth


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## mmafan555 (Nov 12, 2011)

Bluetongue1 said:


> Hi *Snake_Whisperer*,
> 
> The results were grouped and presented as a table. For example, something like 40% of fatal bites resulted from people stepping on snakes whereas only 5% resulted from people trying to kill the snake. I remember being quite surprised, as you so often hear people quote the latter activity as a major source of fatalities.
> 
> Blue




That is what happens with the vast majority of snakebite fatalities worldwide...Not that we should demonize snakes or anything but we also shouldn't sugar coat the reality..They are dangerous animals and the vast majority of snakebite deaths are not a result of some idiot human who tried to kill the snake...Most are accidental.


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## waruikazi (Nov 13, 2011)

I would argue that those statistic do not make a fair representation of the causes of snake bite and that the majority, or atleast a large percentage, of snake bites are still caused by idiot humans trying to interfere with them.

Snake bites shouldn't be fatal if correct first aid and medical treatment is sought. The pre-requisite for treating a snake bite is knowing that the patient has been bitten. You try and kill or catch a snake and it bites you, you are going to know about it and get treatment. However it really isn't unusual to step on a snake, cop a bite and not realise it. You don't know about the bite, you don't treat it and you suffer the effects. 



mmafan555 said:


> That is what happens with the vast majority of snakebite fatalities worldwide...Not that we should demonize snakes or anything but we also shouldn't sugar coat the reality..They are dangerous animals and the vast majority of snakebite deaths are not a result of some idiot human who tried to kill the snake...Most are accidental.


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## Snake_Whisperer (Nov 13, 2011)

boidae said:


> Some stats down the bottom, good read as well..
> Australia's Venomous Snakes: The Modern Myth



Yes, I keep Brian Bush's article on file. An excellent report however it is dated and uses a subjective distribution of statistics to create those graphs. I'm still chasing current statistics, I'll post my article when I get it completed.



mmafan555 said:


> That is what happens with the vast majority of snakebite fatalities worldwide...Not that we should demonize snakes or anything but we also shouldn't sugar coat the reality..They are dangerous animals and the vast majority of snakebite deaths are not a result of some idiot human who tried to kill the snake...Most are accidental.



On what statistical publication are you basing this supposition? Please note that, per the thread title, the statical data I'm seeking is Australian, therefore, global statistics are irrelevant. 



waruikazi said:


> I would argue that those statistic do not make a fair representation of the causes of snake bite and that the majority, or atleast a large percentage, of snake bites are still caused by idiot humans trying to interfere with them.
> 
> Snake bites shouldn't be fatal if correct first aid and medical treatment is sought. The pre-requisite for treating a snake bite is knowing that the patient has been bitten. You try and kill or catch a snake and it bites you, you are going to know about it and get treatment. However it really isn't unusual to step on a snake, cop a bite and not realise it. You don't know about the bite, you don't treat it and you suffer the effects.



Agree with the interference. For the life of me, I cannot recall where I read the statistics involving the correlation between alcohol : testosterone : snakebite fatality, I'm hoping the sources I've emailed can shed some current and accurate light on the subject!


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## waruikazi (Nov 13, 2011)

It would be really interesting to see a breakdown of the causes of bites against ages and gender lol.


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