Editing Snakebite (section)

== Cause ==
{{See also|List of dangerous snakes}}
In the developing world most snakebites occur in those who work outside such as farmers, hunters, and fishermen.<!-- <ref name=Brut2013/> --> They often happen when a person steps on the snake or approaches it too closely.<!-- <ref name=Brut2013/> --> In the United States and Europe snakebites most commonly occur in those who keep them as pets.<ref name=Brut2013>{{cite book | veditors = Garcia HH, Tanowitz HB, Del Brutto OH |title=Neuroparasitology and tropical neurology|date=2013|isbn=978-0-444-53499-6|page=351|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJx3g30aDhIC&pg=PA351|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908174306/https://books.google.com/books?id=bJx3g30aDhIC&pg=PA351|archive-date=8 September 2017|last1=Garcia|first1=Hector H.|last2=Tanowitz|first2=Herbert|last3=Del Brutto|first3=Oscar H.|publisher=Newnes}}</ref>

The type of snake that most often delivers serious bites depends on the region of the world.<!-- <ref name=Brut2013/> --> In Africa, it is [[mamba]]s, [[Egyptian cobra]]s, [[Bitis arietans|puff adders]], and [[carpet viper]]s.<!-- <ref name=Brut2013/> --> In the Middle East, it is carpet vipers and [[elapid]]s.<!-- <ref name=Brut2013/> --> In [[Latin America]], it is snakes of the ''[[Bothrops]]'' and ''[[Crotalus]]'' types,<!-- <ref name=Brut2013/> --> the latter including [[rattlesnake]]s.<ref name=Brut2013/> In North America, rattlesnakes are the primary concern, and up to 95% of all snakebite-related deaths in the United States are attributed to the [[Crotalus atrox|western]] and [[Crotalus adamanteus|eastern diamondback]] rattlesnakes.<ref name="Gold2002"/><!-- Bothrops aren't in North America. Copperheads and water moccasins are less venomous (and mostly found only in Southeastern U.S.), and bites from coral snakes are rare. --> The greatest number of bites are inflicted on the hands.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} People get bitten by handling snakes or in the outdoors by putting their hands on the wrong places. The next largest number of bites occur on the ankles, as snakes are often hidden or camouflaged extremely well to fend off predators. Most bite victims are bitten by surprise, and it is a comfortable fiction that rattlesnakes always forewarn their bite victims - often the bite is the first indication a snake is near. Since most venomous snakes move about during the dawn dusk or night, one may expect more encounters during the early morning or late afternoon, though many species such as the Western Diamondback may be encountered at any time of day and in fact most bites occur during the month of April when both snakes and humans are out and about and encounter one another hiking, in yards, or on pathways.  Children playing within short distances of their homes crawl under porches, jump into bushes, pull boards of wood from a pile and are bitten. Most however occur when people handle rattlesnakes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Sheldon|last2=Shaw|first2=Charles E.|title=Snakes of The American West|year=1974|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]]|location=New York|isbn=978-0-394-48882-0}}</ref> In South Asia, it was previously believed that [[Indian cobra]]s, [[common krait]]s, [[Russell's viper]], and carpet vipers were the most dangerous;<!-- <ref name=Brut2013/> --> other snakes, however, may also cause significant problems in this area of the world.<ref name=Brut2013/>