Nearly 1,000 people treated with antivenom for snake bites each year: CDC

Taipei, July 29 (CNA) Around 1,000 doses of antivenom are administered annually in Taiwan to treat snake bites, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday, as the country approaches the peak month for snake bites.

From 2017-2021, an average of 979 people per year received antivenom after being bitten by snakes, while nine died from such bites in that period -- a fatality rate of 0.18 percent, CDC spokesperson Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said at a press conference in Taipei.

Over that five-year period, Lo said, most snake bites occurred between May and November, peaking in August with 112 cases. October and November accounted for 11.1 percent and 10.5 percent of cases, respectively.

Of the reported cases, 82.9 percent -- or 811 individuals -- were treated with antivenom after being bitten by a hundred pacer or a Chinese green tree viper, followed by 110 cases involving the Taiwan banded krait or Taiwan cobra.

According to Lo, antivenom used in southern and eastern Taiwan was primarily for bites from hundred pacers and Chinese green tree vipers, while cases involving Taiwan banded kraits or cobras were more common in central Taiwan.