The Incidence of Infection Complicating Snakebites in Tropical Australia: Implications for Clinical Management and Antimicrobial Prophylaxis

Table 1

Comparison of infection rates complicating snakebites that have been reported in series from different countries.

Reference	Country	Snake species	Infection rate (%)	Comments
[5]	Taiwan	Protobothrops mucrosquamatus and Viridovipera stejnegeri	22.5	All patients received antivenom
[6]	Taiwan	Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus (41.1%) T. stejnegeri (21.6%), and cobra (10.8%)	25.5	Morganella species in 14%
[7]	Thailand	Green pit viper (Trimeresurus sp.)	6.5	Haemorrhagic bleb only risk factor for infection
[8]	China	G. brevicaudus and D. acutus	25.1	Excluded readmissions
[9]	Brazil	Bothrops sp.	15.1	Only included children
[10]	Brazil	Bothrops sp.	40	Included all patients
[11]	Brazil	Bothrops sp.	23.3	Included all patients
[12]	Colombia	Bothrops asper	30.8
[13]	Martinique	Bothrops lanceolatus	12	Risk of infection increased with severity of envenomation
[14]	United States	Rattlesnake	0.98
[15]	South Africa	Mozambique spitting cobra (Naja mossambica)	25.6	Only included patients requiring surgical debridement
[16]	Ghana	Echis ocellatus	35.3