Snakebite Envenoming (Schlangenbissvergiftungen)

Especies de serpientes muy venenosas, como la mocasín de agua en Norteamérica, las krait en Asia o la mamba negra en África, podrían cambiar cada vez más de hábitat, debido al aumento de las temperaturas y a la presión humana.

Crotales mocassins, kraits et mambas noirs déplacent leur habitat avec la hausse des températures et la pression humaine

Hochgiftige Schlangenarten wie die Wassermokassinotter in Nordamerika, Krait-Arten in Asien und die Schwarze Mamba in Afrika dringen durch höhere Temperaturen und zunehmende Besiedlung immer öfter in neue Lebensräume vor.

Highly venomous snake species such as cottonmouth moccasins in North America, kraits in Asia and the black mamba in Africa could all increasingly move habitats due to rising temperatures and human encroachment.

As global temperatures shift, the geographical distribution of venomous reptiles is undergoing a profound transformation. A comprehensive analysis led by the

Author summary Snakebite is a neglected tropical disease that affects millions every year and primarily results from conflicts in how humans and snakes use environments where they co-exist. Unfortunately, our understanding of where conflict is most pronounced is limited because of surprisingly sparse data on snakebite numbers, their locations, and snake distributions, especially in regions of the world where snakebites are most prevalent. Here, we collate unprecedented amounts of data on where medically important snake species occur and combine them with expert knowledge and statistical models of environmental suitability for snakes at a global 1km resolution now and under conditions of predicted climate change. This approach gives us detailed maps of snake-human population overlap, and allows stakeholders to implement targeted, future-proof efforts to improve human-snake co-existence as well as making snakebite treatments available in the most appropriate locations. It also enables us to detect knowledge gaps that still need to be addressed, based on disagreements of expert knowledge and statistical models. Our results can be used as a basis to study factors that increase human susceptibility to snakebite in areas where they co-exist, such as agricultural practices, housing conditions, lifestyle traits of different snakes, or weather events.

Nearly half the world’s snakebite deaths happen in India. Now, climate change is pushing a neglected crisis into a dangerous new phase. Rupsa Chakraborty reports In September 2025 Manju Prakash, a 41 year old software engineer in Bengaluru, slipped on his Crocs to step outside. A juvenile Russell’s viper, one of India’s deadliest snakes, had coiled inside one of his shoes. Prakash, who had lost sensation in one leg from an earlier surgery, never felt the bite. An hour later his family found him unresponsive with froth at his mouth. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The incident made national headlines across India. Snakebite has long been regarded as a problem confined to remote villages and Prakash’s death in a semi-urban neighbourhood of India’s Silicon Valley challenged that notion. When flooding swept through Bengaluru in 2022 after 131.6 mm of rainfall in a single day, venomous snakes surfaced inside Electronic City’s technology campuses. “During the flooding, even the IT companies had snakes in their campuses and offices—something that had been unheard of,” says Nagaraj, an anaesthesiologist at Srinivasa Hospital in Bangalore. “Ambulances were stationed at the tech parks for nearly three days while snakes were being rescued.” Over 1500 km away in central Chhattisgarh, the shift is more dramatic. Yogesh Jain, a public health physician and founder of the Jan Swasthya Sahyog community health programme, has watched the snakebite season stretch from May into December, when it was once limited to the monsoon months of July to September. “There are clearly pointers to the fact that things are changing,” Jain says. “And by the time we actually start seeing the trend, it’s too late.” These observations align with what climate science predicts. Rising temperatures extend the number of months snakes remain active, while altered monsoons flood their …