In the swamplands along Bangladesh’s mighty Padma River, snakes slithering through villages have become an unrelenting menace, leaving residents terrified and hospitals overwhelmed with bite victims.<\/p>\n
Doctors and experts warn snakebites are on the rise, driven by heavy rains, shrinking habitats and shifting farming practices.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh – among the nations most vulnerable to climate change – has seen nearly 15,000 snakebite admissions this year, with 84 deaths reported so far.<\/p>\n
Farmer Ananda Mondol broke down as he recalled how a snake bit his ankle while he was working in a rice field this year.<\/p>\n
“I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t move,” the 35-year-old from Nimtola, a village in the northern district of Rajshahi, said.<\/p>\n
“I vomited, lost control of my bowels, and saliva was coming out of my mouth.”<\/p>\n
He spent three days in intensive care and is still plagued by sleepless nights and persistent muscle pain.<\/p>\n
The father of four has not returned to the fields since.<\/p>\n
His wife, Sunita Rani, a traditional healer, said the family cannot afford further treatment.<\/p>\n
Across the villages of northern Bangladesh, similar stories abound.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes, they even lie with us on the bed,” said Rezina Begum, as she washed clothes by the river.<\/p>\n
Another villager, Mohammad Bablu, said he dreads walking through the fields.<\/p>\n
“My heart races,” he said. “Only yesterday they killed seven snakes.”<\/p>\n
‘Strong swimmers’<\/p>\n
The swamplands have always been a sanctuary for snakes, but floodwaters brought on by this year’s extra-heavy monsoon rains have pushed more of them from their natural shelters into human settlements.<\/p>\n
And doctors said that has ramped up the deadly consequences.<\/p>\n
At least 25 people have died from snakebites at the Rajshahi Medical College hospital since January, said Professor of Medicine Abu Shahin Mohammed Mahbubur Rahman.<\/p>\n
The hospital treated more than 1,000 cases in nine months, including 206 bites from venomous species such as cobras, kraits and the feared Russell’s viper.<\/p>\n
“Many patients suffer acute kidney failure after snakebites,” Dr Abu Shahin said.<\/p>\n
Nationwide, authorities have recorded 84 snakebite deaths so far this year, alongside nearly 15,000 admissions.<\/p>\n
That follows 118 deaths in 2024, one of the highest tolls in recent memory.<\/p>\n
The once uncommon venomous Russell’s viper has seen a resurgence in numbers since 2013, spreading panic.<\/p>\n
Fatalities have risen steadily since.<\/p>\n
A prolific breeder, Russell’s vipers do not lay eggs – they give birth to as many as 60 babies at a time, making them difficult to contain.<\/p>\n
“They are strong swimmers and can float on water hyacinths,” said Professor of Zoology at Chittagong University, Farid Ahsan.<\/p>\n
This year’s heavy rains have worsened the risk.<\/p>\n
Rajshahi recorded 1,409 millimetres of rainfall between May and September, nearly a fifth higher above the seasonal norm of 1,175mm.<\/p>\n
Boots and nets<\/p>\n
But experts say climate change is only part of the picture.<\/p>\n
Gowhar Naim Wara, a disaster management specialist, blamed urbanisation and farming practices.<\/p>\n
“Their habitat is gone, and they are now living in close contact with humans,” Mr Wara said.
Hospitals have scrambled to stock antivenom.<\/p>\n
“We have sufficient antivenoms for the next three weeks,” said Md Sayedur Rahman, special assistant at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, adding that more imports were on the way.<\/p>\n
But experts caution imported antidotes are not always effective, as venoms vary by species and region.
Bangladesh is working on its own treatments, with progress on a Russell’s viper antivenom – though rollout remains at least three years away.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, villagers are adapting as best they can – carrying sticks and torches at night, wearing jeans and boots in the fields, and sleeping under mosquito nets.<\/p>\n
“It could be any of us next,” said Mr Bablu. “We live every day with that thought.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the swamplands along Bangladesh’s mighty Padma River, snakes slithering through villages have become an unrelenting menace, leaving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-185774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}