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46,000: Annual snake bite fatalities in India
An underreported fast fact for travelers with naive "Jungle Book" fantasies
It's all fun and games till somebody gets hurt. Just kidding. Indian performance cobras are always "fanged-out" -- they've had their teeth removed.One thing that's tough about traveling in India is the availability of reliable information such as what time the train is expected, exactly.
But when it comes to health warnings the joke's off -- especially when we're talking about venomous snakes and the statistical possibility of receiving a fang mark in the foot for a souvenir.
Despite the fact that India is neither home to the largest number snakes in the world nor in short supply of anti-venom, a staggering 250,000 people a year still get bitten by snakes in the subcontinent.
The official figure of snakebite fatalities in India is 2,000 per year. But a report this week from the The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene puts the figure at 46,000.
How come the huge discrepancy?
According to a report in The Times of India, it's because the health ministry has yet to aggressively push the implementation of its policy to make sure doctors and hospitals, in Indian villages especially, are adequately located and prepared.
So if you're one of those travelers with a mortal fear of finding yourself sharing a crib with a krait, the Indian states you may want to avoid are: Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam and West Bengal.
FYI: India has 13 highly poisonous snake varieties. The five most deadly are the common cobra, the krait, Russell's viper, the saw-scaled viper and the hump-nosed pit viper.
