Snake Bites Kill Thousands Needlessly Because of Herbal Remedy Myths

Thousands of deaths could occur every year in India due to people using dangerous herbal remedies for snake bites.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about five million snakebites occur in India each year, and these are responsible for between 81,000 and 138,000 deaths.

Snakes are a particular problem in rural areas, as people do not have fast access to antivenom. A bite from a highly venomous snake such as a cobra requires a large amount of antivenom, administered at a hospital. While snakes usually only attack if provoked or threatened, conflicts can occur when they live in close proximity with humans.

The species that pose the most risk are common kraits, the Indian cobra, russell's viper and saw scaled viper. These snakes are responsible for around 90 percent of snake bites in India, according to the WHO.

There are around 300 different species of snake in India, with the King Cobra considered the national reptile. The country has a turbulent history with its snake population. While under British rule during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the government offered financial incentives to the population of Delhi to reduce the number of cobras. This led people to breed the snakes as an additional income, resulting in more cobras.

Snake charming was also once a fairly lucrative career, but the practice became illegal in 1972 when the Wildlife Protection Act banned the ownership of snakes. While enforcement was fairly lax for many years, the last decade has seen stricter regulation, leading to a loss of income for many.

Snake catchers have risen in popularity across the country, with some—such as Vava Suresh—reaching a celebrity status.

Seeking herbal remedies for snake bites

Lack of access to antivenom though, is not the only reason so many deaths occur each year. In India, many people still practice herbal or 'traditional' remedies for snake bites. And these can be extremely dangerous.

Traditional healers are still in practice across the country. While they have no proven effect in treating the snakebite, many still believe these methods work. Often herbal remedies are applied on the top of the skin, meaning they do not reach into the tissue of the victim's bloodstream.

Jose Louies, director at the Wildlife Trust of India and founder of Indian Snakes told Newsweek: "Herbal remedies are widely used across India as a treatment to snakebites. The herbs used for these treatments differ from region to region and the application methods are also different. There are conflicting results which makes it very challenging to differentiate the truth and lies. I personally have met dozens of such healers with varying levels confidence in treating snakebites."

Louies said there are some herbal remedies which serve as additional treatment for snake bite wounds—however it cannot save lives.

In Uttar Pradesh in August, a farmer caught a common krait that had been slithering around a neighbors house. According to the The Times of India, Devendra Mishra, 50, was well known for catching snakes and started showing off with the reptile, wrapping it around his neck. The snake bit him and he treated the wound with herbal remedies and died the following day.

"Most of the herbal healers are fake, their treatments have no effect on the venom and their success is the treatment of non-venomous [snakebites]. They save these patients—about 90 percent snakebites are by non-venomous snakes or dry bites or not enough venom entered in the body of the victim." Louies said. "These successful treatments will give them fame and people will forget the 10 percent failures."

When a snakebite victim is in dire condition—meaning death will surely follow without medical treatment—-these healers will sometimes send the family to hospital, because the snake bitten the victim is of a "special type and the serpent god is angry with the family," according to Louies.

"Now the patient will reach a hospital in a non-recoverable condition and the [antivenom] based treatment will fail—this will result in the death of the patient in a hospital."

Romulus Whitaker, India-based herpetologist of the Madras Crocodile Bank, which works to educate villagers on snakebites, told Newsweek that "many deaths, perhaps thousands" occur because of people getting herbal and other alternative treatments.

"Thus wasting precious time when they should be getting an intravenous infusion of antivenom," Whitaker said. "A 'snakebite registry' system is just being put in place in some states, but meanwhile, we have no idea of the number of people who succumb because they tried herbal remedies."

Whitaker said teaching people through community engagement is important in tackling this issue.

"There are several key things people must learn to solve India's snakebite problem," Whitaker said.

One way of doing this is keeping houses rodent free, so that snakes are not attracted to those areas. He also said snake bites must be treated like a medical emergency.

"[People should] not waste time going to a local healer using herbal or other purported, useless remedies. These suggestions are easy to make but the reality is that snakebites often happen in remote places where transport to a hospital could take hours and people strongly believe in local healers located in their village," Whitaker said.

Update 10/07/2022 10:51 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include more information about the history of snakes in India and details of a man dying after using herbal remedies to treat a bite.