Karnataka saw a sharp rise in recorded snakebites, deaths in 2024

Rising snakebite cases and deaths in Karnataka prompt declaration of snakebites as notifiable disease for better surveillance and response.

The recorded cases of snakebite envenoming and deaths in Karnataka have seen a sharp rise from 6,596 bite cases and 19 deaths in 2023 to 13,235 bite cases and 101 deaths in 2024. This follows Karnataka declaring snakebite envenoming cases and deaths notifiable under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020, in February 2024.

Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease caused by the bite of a venomous snake, that is usually accidental. While a total of 3,439 cases and 17 deaths were recorded by the State Health Department in 2022, this year so far (from January 1 to 18), there have been 415 cases and three deaths.

In 2024, while Hassan reported the highest number of cases at 850, Chickballapur and Mysuru followed with 813 and 790 cases, respectively. The highest number of snakebite deaths was recorded in Tumakuru (nine) followed by Koppal and Kalaburagi (eight each) and Bagalkot and Shivamogga (six each), according to data from the State’s Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) portal.

Following a huge gap between the number of snakebite envenoming and deaths reported from direct surveys and in the official data, Karnataka declared snakebite deaths and cases notifiable under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020, in February 2024. This is much ahead of the Centre’s letter to States on November 27 last year asking them to declare snakebites as a notifiable disease.

Following the declaration, the State Health Department directed all hospitals and medical colleges (teaching hospitals), including private facilities, to mandatorily enter all snakebite cases and deaths on the IHIP portal.

Attributing the rise in the cases to improved reporting by hospitals, Ansar Ahmed, State Project Director, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, said making snakebites notifiable had led to better surveillance. “It has resulted in better monitoring, response, and mitigating the effects of snakebites, which have long posed a severe public health concern, especially in the tribal and rural areas,” he said.

Reporting of snakebite cases and deaths on the IHIP portal began in October 2021. Prior to this, it was being done through the Communicable Diseases division. Reporting of many cases is missed as most people in rural areas go to traditional faith healers,” he said.