Nearly 6 In 10 Documented Snakebites Happened During Farming, Global Review Finds

An individual is barefoot in a field, pulling weeds or harvesting crops, when a snake suddenly strikes. For many snakebite cases documented around the world, that’s roughly how it goes. A sweeping new review published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases has combed through 142 studies spanning nearly four decades, mapping more than 214,000 snakebite incidents across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Australia, and Europe. The recorded circumstances point consistently toward poverty, farming, and geography, a portrait of rural hardship colliding with biology in a particular, and largely preventable, way.

According to the World Health Organization, roughly 5.4 million snakebites occur globally each year, and up to 2.7 million of those result in venom actually entering the body, causing between 81,000 and 138,000 deaths worldwide. India accounts for an estimated half of that global toll, with about 58,000 deaths annually. Prevention has received far less attention than treatment, and research on what puts people at risk has been scattered and inconsistent, until now.

Farming Is the Most Commonly Reported Snakebite Circumstance

Out of nearly 48,000 recorded snakebite circumstances, farm-related activities accounted for 59.1% of cases, including plowing, weeding, harvesting, clearing brush, and herding livestock. General non-farm outdoor work added another 9.1%, and walking, often barefoot through fields or forests, accounted for 8.4%. Snake handling made up 3.6% of cases, and bites during sleep or rest accounted for 2.4%.

Lower legs and feet were the most commonly bitten parts of the body by a wide margin. Among more than 85,000 cases with a recorded bite location, 79% involved the lower limb, while only about 19% hit the upper limb, and bites to the head, neck, or torso were rare. That lines up with people working in fields, walking through vegetation, or moving in the dark, circumstances where an accidental encounter with a snake underfoot would be hard to avoid.

When Snakebites Happen Matters Too

Snakebites were slightly more common during the day than later hours, with just over half of time-recorded bites occurring during daylight. Nearly 39% of bites occurred between noon and 6 p.m., another 29% happened between 6 p.m. and midnight, when people are still moving around outdoors and visibility is dropping, and just 12% occurred between midnight and 6 a.m.

Seasonal patterns mattered too. Across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, snakebite rates climbed during monsoon and post-monsoon periods. Flooding is thought to displace snakes into areas where people live and work, while rainy seasons also happen to be peak times for farming. The two dangers can feed each other.

A Snakebite Problem Rooted in Poverty

These findings are especially sobering because snakebite clusters so clearly around disadvantage. Poor housing, mud floors, thatched roofs, gaps in the walls, was repeatedly linked to bites during sleep, since snakes can slip inside at night. A study from Bangladesh cited in the review found that sleeping on the floor raised snakebite risk by more than fourfold.

Limited access to healthcare made a difficult situation worse. People in remote rural areas often face long travel times to reach a hospital and may not afford treatment once there. Reliance on traditional healers, documented in India and parts of Africa, often delays care that can prevent death or disability. Low literacy and limited awareness of snake behavior and first aid also contributed to worse outcomes. Together, these factors were repeatedly associated with greater exposure to snakebite and worse outcomes after a bite.

Vipers Account for Most Identified Bites

Viper species dominated the bites researchers were able to identify, accounting for more than 85% of the 116,759 snake identification records. In India, Russell’s viper made up 51.3% of identified bites, followed by common krait at 22.3%, saw-scaled viper at 10%, and spectacled cobra at 8.9%, together known as India’s “Big Four” for their well-documented role in snakebite deaths. In Africa, carpet viper and spitting cobra were among the most commonly reported species, while in Australia, the brown snake accounted for 43.1% of cases.

The team behind the review screened more than 2,100 records before narrowing the field to those studies, the earliest from 1987 and the most recent from 2025, with more than 60% originating from India. It’s a scoping review, a method built to map available evidence rather than test a specific hypothesis, so it can’t prove that any single factor causes a bite. Even so, the patterns are consistent enough to point toward concrete, low-cost solutions. Wearing boots while farming may help prevent some lower-limb bites, and improving housing, closing gaps in walls, using bed nets, sleeping off the ground, may help reduce nighttime exposure. Better rural lighting, public education, and faster access to emergency healthcare could further reduce deaths.

Snakebite has long been overshadowed in global health funding by diseases with higher public profiles, but its suffering is concentrated almost entirely among people with the fewest resources. The answer isn’t only stocking more antivenom. It’s recognizing that the circumstances recorded again and again, poverty, agricultural work, bare feet, point toward a crisis that may be far more preventable than its death toll suggests.

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