SNAKES OF INDIA: HISS AND HEALTH

Since the dawn of civilization, snakes have inspired a mystic feeling of good and evil in human mind. It has appeared in various mythologies, either as demon or as a god.In Greek mythology it represented Goddess Hygeia and was worshipped along with Asclepius, the God of Health. The tradition is carried over to the modern time and the snake has found a place in the symbol of medical profession throughout the world. In India, snakes are found everywhere from 12,000 feet altitude of the Himalayas down to Cape Comorin, but different areas have different species preponderance. There are more than 250 species of land snakes in India, of which only four have been popularly known to be dangerously poisonous to man; Cobra, common krait, Russell viper and Saw Scalled Viper. The high mortality in India is due to climatic factors, rural predominance of population and their agricultural dependence. The knowledge of type of snake preponderant over any area,identification of the snake species and the clinical syndrome produced by its venom has tremendous clinical significance.