Australia was one of the first countries in the world to experiment with snake antivenoms, in 1898, when Frank Tidswell commenced immunization of a former ambulance horse with tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) venom. CSL Ltd is the sole manufacturer of antivenoms for human use in Australia. Australian antivenoms are amongst the best in the world, in terms of high purity and low adverse reaction rate.

Hypersensitivity to ant, bee or wasp venom is not uncommon in the Australian population. Less well known is tick hypersensitivity, which clinically presents the same picture.