An estimated 100,000 people die of snake bites a year, with over 5 million bitten, half by dangerous venomous snakes. But how to recognise them! David Warrell is a retired Professor of Tropical Medicine and senior editor of “The Oxford Textbook of Medicine” who has been based in Oxford since 1975. His research has focussed on how to manage the clinical treatment of snakebite victims in small rural hospitals in tropical countries, where most snakebites occur.