Snakebite deaths much rarer than estimated: ICMR study
Deaths from snake bites may be much rarer than earlier estimated, according to an 11-state survey funded by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). The survey also shows that 43% of such deaths occurred outside hospital settings or in transit and that snakebite envenomation (SBE) was a disease of impoverishment with 53% of victims being below the poverty line.
According to the survey, the mortality rate from snake bite is roughly 0.3 per 100,000 population, much lower than the earlier estimate of 6 per 100,000 based on the One-Million-Death study led by the Registrar General of India from 1998 to 2014.
An interim report of the survey published in Nature Communications, an open-access scientific journal, is based on a cross-sectional survey in which data was collected for a continuous period of one year in each of the 11 states with all snakebite victims identified by ASHAs and family members of victims who consented to participate in the study. The survey is yet to be completed in Meghalaya and West Bengal.
"In case of snakebite, the estimate of death in the 1-MDS appears to be grossly overestimated as compared to what we have gathered from the community. For example, there were 31 deaths due to SBE in Kerala (population 35 million) for the year 2024-25, whilst based on the 1-MDS estimate the number of deaths would have been 2100 for the state," pointed out the study. Extrapolation of the results from the selected sites to countrywide statistics would suggest a total incidence of snakebite for the country at 120,852 annually, it added.
According to the survey, the mortality rate from snake bite is roughly 0.3 per 100,000 population, much lower than the earlier estimate of 6 per 100,000 based on the One-Million-Death study led by the Registrar General of India from 1998 to 2014.
An interim report of the survey published in Nature Communications, an open-access scientific journal, is based on a cross-sectional survey in which data was collected for a continuous period of one year in each of the 11 states with all snakebite victims identified by ASHAs and family members of victims who consented to participate in the study. The survey is yet to be completed in Meghalaya and West Bengal.
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"In case of snakebite, the estimate of death in the 1-MDS appears to be grossly overestimated as compared to what we have gathered from the community. For example, there were 31 deaths due to SBE in Kerala (population 35 million) for the year 2024-25, whilst based on the 1-MDS estimate the number of deaths would have been 2100 for the state," pointed out the study. Extrapolation of the results from the selected sites to countrywide statistics would suggest a total incidence of snakebite for the country at 120,852 annually, it added.
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