Tropical Emergency Medicine Series Snakebite in tropical Australia, Papua

It is thought that the incidence of snakebite in Australia is falling, with an estimated 1000–3000 snakebites each year.1,2 There has also been a dramatic fall in the incidence of antivenom use.3 Reasons for the falling incidence of snakebite in Australia include both decreasing numbers of venomous and other snakes and decreasing human exposure to snakes because of lifestyle and demographic changes.3 Proposed factors affecting snake populations include increasing urban development, especially in coastal regions, the spread of the introduced cane toad (Bufo marinus) whose poisonous secretions are thought to be in part responsible for the demise of frog-eating snakes, such as the red-bellied black snake in Queensland and the Papuan black snake in Papua New Guinea, an