Genus Acanthophis

This is a brief overview of information on Australian death adder snakes, based on information on the main Clinical Toxinology Resources Website. For more detail and up-to-date information on death adder snakes, covered at species level, search for "snakebite" in the First Aid menu, or search for specific information on death adder snakes in the Snakes - Search menu, using either "death adder" in the common name field or select "Acanthophis" in the Genus field. The information on this page will not be regularly updated, because regular updated information can be obtained from the main toxinology website, listed above.

Taxonomy of death adders

Species listing for Australian death adders:

Common death adder, Acanthophis antarcticus

Barkly Tableland Death Adder, Acanthophis hawkei

Smooth-scaled Death Adder, Acanthophis laevis

Northern death adder, Acanthophis praelongus

Desert death adder, Acanthophis pyrrhus

Pilbara death adder, Acanthophis wellsei

For more detailed information on death adders, including distribution maps and photos, use the Clinical Toxinology Resources Website at www.toxinology.com and search for specific information on death adders in the Snakes - Search menu, using either "death adder" in the common name field or select "Acanthophis" in the Genus field.

Distribution of death adders

Death adders are highly venomous and are found in most of mainland Australia, but not on southern offshore islands, including Tasmania. They are also found in New Guinea and a few islands of western Indonesia.

Venom of death adders

As with other venomous snakes causing snakebite in humans, death adders have complex venoms with many components. Only the most important clinically are mentioned here.

Overall death adder venom is highly potent, though slightly less potent than common brown snake venom, tiger snake venom and taipan venom.

Death adder venom contains potent postsynaptic neurotoxins (toxins in venom that cause paralysis or muscle weakness), but no presynaptic neurotoxins.

Death adder venom does not contain potent procoagulants (toxins in venom that interfere with blood clotting, causing consumption of the clotting protein, fibrinogen; this causes defibrination, with non-clottable blood, putting victims at risk of major bleeding).

No renal (kidney) toxins have so far been isolated from death adder snake venoms, and renal failure (kidney failure) is not a common effect of death adder snake snakebites in humans, even in cases where there is significant envenoming (envenomation).

Death adder venom does contain myotoxins that theoretically could cause myolysis (rhabdomyolysis, muscle damage), but there is no evidence this occurs in humans bitten by these snakes.

Death adder venom causes generally minor local effects at the snakebite site, such as mild swelling and pain and does not contain necrotoxins, and local tissue necrosis does not occur.

For more up-to-date information on death adders use the Clinical Toxinology Resources Website at www.toxinology.com and search for specific information on death adder snakes in the Snakes - Search menu, using either "death adder" in the common name field or select "Acanthophis" in the Genus field.

Clinical effects of death adder snake bites

Death adders have highly potent venom and can cause severe envenoming (envenomation) of humans. They are an uncommon cause of snakebites and only rare snakebite deaths in Australia at present, but cause many bites and deaths in New Guinea. Envenoming (envenomation) can cause neurotoxic paralysis (muscle weakness, respiratory failure), and this is common, but clinical features of flaccid paralysis usually take several hours to become apparent. Bites do not cause myolysis (rhabdomyolysis, muscle damage), coagulopathy or renal failure.

For more and up-to-date information on death adder bites use the Clinical Toxinology Resources Website at www.toxinology.com and search for specific information on death adder snakes in the Snakes - Search menu, using either "death adder" in the common name field or select "Acanthophis" in the Genus field.

First aid treatment

First aid for death adder snake bite is the same as for other snakebites and is based on immobilising the venom at the bite site until medical treatment can be obtained. This snakebite first aid is commonly known as the pressure immobilisation bandage technique for snakebite and other forms of envenoming (envenomation).

For details of the method, use the Clinical Toxinology Resources Website at www.toxinology.com and search for "snakebite" in the First Aid menu, or search for specific information on death adder snakes in the Snakes - Search menu, using either "death adder" in the common name field or select "Acanthophis" in the Genus field.

Medical treatment of death adder snake bite

About 60% of death adder snake bites result in significant envenoming, requiring antivenom therapy, and envenoming is often severe and potentially lethal. Deaths from death adder bites are now rare in Australia, but still common in New Guinea. It is essential all cases be managed as an emergency, requiring rapid application of first aid and urgent medical assessment. For those cases with systemic envenoming, which may develop in less than 15 minutes after the bite, antivenom therapy is the principle treatment. In most such cases 1+ vials of CSL Death Adder Snake Antivenom will be required intravenously to reverse the paralysis. In New Guinea, CSL Polyvalent Snake Antivenom is more commonly used.

For further overview information, use the Clinical Toxinology Resources Website at www.toxinology.com and search for specific information on death adder snakes in the Snakes - Search menu, using either "death adder" in the common name field or select "Acanthophis" in the genus field. Treatment information and available antivenoms will be listed near the bottom of the page. A general overview of snakebite treatment is also available.

For detailed information on medical treatment on the Clinical Toxinology Resources Website you need to access the subscriber-only area, but substantial information, including appropriate antivenoms and how to use them, (not as detailed as for subscribers) is also available in the online version of the CSL Antivenom Handbook, also available on this site.