According to data from the Secretary of Health, 45 people have been hospitalized due to snake bites in the Yucatan, so far in 2019.
“This increase is due to the high temperatures that we are having in the entity, because the intense heat causes snakes to leave their burrows in search of water and food, that’s when they run into humans and bites occur,” said Daly Gabino Martínez Ortiz, state coordinator of Zoonosis of the Yucatan Ministry of Health (SSY).
The reptile specialist added that there are three periods in the year where these cases intensify in the state:
1.- Drought and intense heat
2.- Burning season (vegetation is intentionally burned to turn land into a field for faming purposes)
3.- Rainy season
Daly Gabino Martínez Ortiz, state coordinator of Zoonosis at the Yucatan Ministry of Health.
According to national figures, so far in 2019, in all of Mexico 1,603 people have been attacked by snakes, the most affected state is San Luis Potosí, with 188 cases, 11.7 percent of the total, followed by Veracruz, with 166, 10.4 percent. The states with less snake bite cases registered are Morelos and Aguascalientes with only 2 reports each.
“In Yucatan, 45 people have already been officially reported bitten by a snake, with an increase of 73.1 percent in comparison with the same period last year, when 26 cases were registered.
Most attacks involve three different kinds of rattlesnakes:
- Crotalus durissus
- Crotalus atrox
- Crotalus scutulatus
- “Cuatro Narices” (Four noses) aka nauyaca (Bothrops asper)
- Huolpoch (Agkistrodon)
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
