For a man wearing shoes and trousers and living in a camp, the danger of being bitten by a poisonous snake is small compared to the hazards of malaria, cholera, dysentery, or other diseases.

Nearly all snakes avoid man if possible. Reportedly, however, a few--the king cobra of Southeast Asia, the bushmaster and tropical rattlesnake of South America, and the mamba of Africa--sometimes aggressively attack man, but even these snakes do so only occasionally. Most snakes get out of the way and are seldom seen.