When it rains, snake bites soar

Date:  September 5, 2018

Source:  University of Colorado at Boulder

Hikers and trail runners be warned: Rattlesnakes and other venomous reptiles may bite more people during rainy years than in seasons wracked by drought, a new study shows.

The research, which was led by Caleb Phillips of the University of Colorado Boulder and Grant Lipman of the Stanford University School of Medicine, examined 20 years of snakebite data from across California. Their findings contradict a popular theory among many wilderness health professionals that drought might increase snake bites by pushing the reptiles into the open where they are more likely to run into people.

Instead, the group discovered that for every 10 percent increase in rainfall over the previous 18 months, cases of snake bites spiked by 3.9 percent in California's 58 counties.

The results could have implications for efforts to prevent and treat dangerous encounters between humans and snakes, especially as climate patterns shift across the western United States.

"This study shows a possible unexpected, secondary result of climate change," said Phillips, an adjunct assistant professor in CU Boulder's Department of Computer Science. "We probably need to take climatological changes into account when we coordinate systems that may seem unrelated like planning how we distribute antivenin supplies or funding poison control centers."

Phillips and his colleagues suspect that the reason for the surge in snake bites during wet years may come down to snake food. Mice and other rodents, the prime meals for rattlesnakes, flourish in rainy years -- and that might give snakes a boost.

Continued  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180905113638.htm