India, April 3 -- Climate change is predicted to substantially shift the ranges of venomous snakes around the world, expanding human exposure to some of the most medically dangerous species while threatening the survival of other species, according to a new study published April 2 in the open-access journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases by Anna Pintor of the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues.

Snakebite kills approximately 138,000 people and causes 400,000 disabilities each year, primarily in poor rural communities in low- and middle-income tropical and subtropical countries. The WHO has pledged to reduce this burden by 50% by 2030 but there is limited knowledge of how, when, and where humans and snakes int...