page_title: Epidemiology of snakebites
section_title: Australasia
hierarchical_section_title: Epidemiology of snakebites / Australasia
caption_attribution_description: English: A banded sea krait (Laticauda colubrina) is seen here off the shoreline of Wakatobi, Indonesia.
context_page_description: Most snakebites are caused by non-venomous snakes. Of the roughly 3,700 known species of snake found worldwide, only 15% are considered dangerous to humans. Snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica. There are two major families of venomous snakes, Elapidae and Viperidae. Three hundred twenty five species in 61 genera are recognized in the family Elapidae and 224 species in 22 genera are recognized in the family Viperidae, In addition, the most diverse and widely distributed snake family, the colubrids, has approximately 700 venomous species, but only five genera—boomslangs, twig snakes, keelback snakes, green snakes, and slender snakes—have caused human fatalities.
  Since reporting is not mandatory in many regions of the world, snakebites often go unreported. Consequently, no accurate study has ever been conducted to determine the frequency of snakebites on the international level. However, some estimates put the number at 1.2 to 5.5 million snakebites, 421,000 envenomings, resulting in perhaps 20,000 deaths, but the actual number of deaths may be as high as 94,000.
context_section_description: The vast majority of venomous snakebites in Australasia occur in the Australasian realm. At least 300 evenomations occur each year in Papua New Guinea, 30 in the Solomon Islands, and 10 Vanuatu. The majority of bites in New Guinea are caused by the death adders, and a smaller number by the endemic small-eyed snake and other local species. Most of the Pacific Islands are free of terrestrial snakes, although sea snakes are common in coral reefs. In the Oceanian realm, only Micronesia and Tonga, where at least 10 envenomations occur annually, face an appreciable burden of snakebite.
  In Australia, there are many more annual cases of spiderbite and jellyfish envenomation than snakebite; however, when considering the number of fatal cases, snakebite is the most serious type of envenoming. Australia is unique in that it is the only continent where venomous snakes constitute the majority of species. Nearly all venomous species in Australia are elapids, as vipers are absent from the continent.
  The brown snakes, death adders, mulga snakes, taipans, and tiger snakes are the five groups that inflict virtually all reported snakebites, although copperheads, rough-scaled snakes, and members of the genus Hoplocephalus are also occasionally involved in bites. Of the five dangerous groups, the highly venomous eastern brown snake, which is widespread and common in both rural and urban environments, is the most important—it is estimated to be responsible for up to 60% of all deaths caused by snakebite.
  In Northern Australia, sea snakes are common and occasionally inflict bites, although far less frequently than terrestrial snakes. Several venomous colubrids exist in Australia as well, such as the brown tree snake, although they have geographically limited distributions and only very rarely deliver a medically significant bite. In Tasmania and Kangaroo Island, which have a cooler, moister habitat than mainland Australia, the tiger snakes and copperhead snakes inflict the majority of bites. The brown snakes are not present on these islands.
  Despite the fact that many Australian snakes have unusually potent venom, wide access to antivenom, which is available for all dangerous species, has made deaths exceedingly rare. It is believed that up to 1,500 definite or suspected snakebites occur in Australia each year, of which about 200 are serious enough to warrant antivenom therapy. Approximately 2 to 4 fatalities occur annually.
caption: The yellow-lipped sea krait is a timid but highly venomous sea snake common throughout tropical Indo-Pacific waters.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:09:18 20:11:21", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6066", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1567"}