Inland taipan in serious cases where there is significant envenoming. Causes of death: Until 1955, the only antivenom available for general distribution for Australian snakes was the monovalent (specific) tiger snake ("Notechis") antivenom, which gave varying degrees of cross-protection against the bites of most other dangerous Australian snakes. Thereafter followed specific anti-venom for other common snakes among them the coastal taipan, and finally, a polyvalent (broad spectrum) antivenom, a combined antivenom for the bites of any unidentified snake from Australia. The coastal taipan anti-venom, known as "taipan antivenom", is effective against the inland taipan venom as well, but it is not as
Coastal taipan being bitten, but the average is around 2.5 hours. The time between a bite and death depends on various factors such as the nature of the bite and the constitution of the victim. Untreated bites have a mortality rate of 100% as the coastal taipan always delivers a fatal dose of venom (an average bite delivers 10-12x the lethal dose of venom for a human adult male), and medical professionals recommend that victims seek immediate medical attention even for apparently minor bites. Before the introduction of specific antivenom by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in 1956, nearly all bites were fatal.