'The fangs are short and pencil-like, very fine, you may not even feel a bite.' 9News
On Saturday morning paramedics were called to a home in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, but the father-of-two had died before emergency services arrived.
Up to 65 per cent of fatalities between 2000 and 2016 were attributed to the venomous species, which is found across most of eastern Australia.Associate Professor Naren Gunja, a clinical and forensic toxicologist with the University of Sydney, told 9news.com.au that a lot of patients he's treated don't even realise they've been bitten."Brown snakes have very sharp, small fangs when compared to death adders and tiger snakes, for example," he explained.
"In some cases I've not even been able to find where they've been bitten, normally you see a double puncture wound, but sometimes the wound is so fine you don't find a bite site."Given this, Gunja said it's extremely important for people to know the symptoms of eastern brown snake envenomation. Gunja explained eastern brown snake venom works as a procoagulant, meaning it initially forms blood clots."The venom makes you clot, tiny little clots over and over again, thousands of times," he said.
Gunja added eastern brown snakes often deliver "dry bites" without venom, as most strikes serve as a defensive warning.Eastern brown snakes are found throughout eastern Australia, from northern Queensland to South Australia. Isolated populations are also found in central and western Northern Territory.In data shared with 9news.com.au, Queensland Ambulance Service revealed more than 800 people have been bitten by snakes in the state each year from 2020-2022.
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