The Fort Worth Press - Thriving scorpion population is stinging problem for Brazil

USD -
AED 3.673001
AFN 68.129336
ALL 91.668649
AMD 386.64471
ANG 1.800607
AOA 912.552774
ARS 992.7315
AUD 1.512974
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.68728
BAM 1.824806
BBD 2.01727
BDT 119.396719
BGN 1.82332
BHD 0.376803
BIF 2948.380024
BMD 1
BND 1.334422
BOB 6.903437
BRL 5.679802
BSD 0.999072
BTN 84.541209
BWP 13.465136
BYN 3.269625
BYR 19600
BZD 2.013911
CAD 1.390085
CDF 2868.000117
CHF 0.875795
CLF 0.034916
CLP 963.440261
CNY 7.178297
CNH 7.119295
COP 4413
CRC 512.215261
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 102.879775
CZK 23.617036
DJF 177.916486
DKK 6.949103
DOP 60.187626
DZD 133.748957
EGP 49.234599
ERN 15
ETB 119.896903
EUR 0.93175
FJD 2.24975
FKP 0.765169
GBP 0.77461
GEL 2.725027
GGP 0.765169
GHS 16.315772
GIP 0.765169
GMD 71.496316
GNF 8616.466922
GTQ 7.710502
GYD 209.034461
HKD 7.77415
HNL 25.201413
HRK 6.88903
HTG 131.453603
HUF 381.813994
IDR 15763
ILS 3.738025
IMP 0.765169
INR 84.2419
IQD 1308.807957
IRR 42104.999919
ISK 138.179756
JEP 0.765169
JMD 158.265729
JOD 0.709198
JPY 154.460342
KES 128.890324
KGS 86.197176
KHR 4060.515868
KMF 458.624958
KPW 899.999774
KRW 1397.20406
KWD 0.30685
KYD 0.832606
KZT 492.558899
LAK 21815.535475
LBP 89469.1665
LKR 292.534556
LRD 191.335016
LSL 17.764985
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.841411
MAD 9.873156
MDL 17.869089
MGA 4647.300582
MKD 57.483544
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000028
MOP 8.000448
MRU 39.504756
MUR 46.519746
MVR 15.401691
MWK 1732.404682
MXN 20.156615
MYR 4.414501
MZN 63.904979
NAD 17.764985
NGN 1676.180349
NIO 36.770777
NOK 11.053025
NPR 135.262149
NZD 1.674695
OMR 0.385019
PAB 0.999081
PEN 3.769622
PGK 4.0092
PHP 58.762502
PKR 277.60178
PLN 4.055634
PYG 7767.343568
QAR 3.642895
RON 4.635695
RSD 109.030958
RUB 97.227779
RWF 1356.776652
SAR 3.756718
SBD 8.333912
SCR 13.608046
SDG 601.49797
SEK 10.84114
SGD 1.3314
SHP 0.765169
SLE 22.701804
SLL 20969.496802
SOS 570.999389
SRD 34.833986
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.74218
SYP 2512.530268
SZL 17.755261
THB 34.353499
TJS 10.640567
TMT 3.51
TND 3.130665
TOP 2.342095
TRY 34.1942
TTD 6.774553
TWD 32.270052
TZS 2725.000015
UAH 41.421807
UGX 3677.043437
UYU 41.575503
UZS 12778.682292
VEF 3622552.534434
VES 43.727292
VND 25400
VUV 118.722039
WST 2.801184
XAF 612.011513
XAG 0.029645
XAU 0.000367
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.74855
XOF 612.017223
XPF 111.272317
YER 249.824961
ZAR 17.62485
ZMK 9001.205905
ZMW 27.076073
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    63.1700

    63.17

    +100%

  • NGG

    -1.3500

    64.12

    -2.11%

  • CMSC

    -0.1700

    24.51

    -0.69%

  • SCS

    0.7400

    13.06

    +5.67%

  • BCC

    3.2700

    141.76

    +2.31%

  • RELX

    -0.2000

    47.71

    -0.42%

  • BCE

    -0.1000

    28.74

    -0.35%

  • CMSD

    -0.1900

    24.85

    -0.76%

  • RIO

    -0.1700

    65.33

    -0.26%

  • RYCEF

    0.0800

    7.38

    +1.08%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.25

    -0.15%

  • VOD

    -0.1000

    9.31

    -1.07%

  • GSK

    -1.1200

    35.9

    -3.12%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.64

    +0.51%

  • BP

    0.2000

    30.16

    +0.66%

  • AZN

    -2.4200

    63.85

    -3.79%

Thriving scorpion population is stinging problem for Brazil
Thriving scorpion population is stinging problem for Brazil / Photo: © AFP

Thriving scorpion population is stinging problem for Brazil

Forget snakes, it's scorpions Brazilians most need to worry about.

Text size:

The arachnids -- feared for the toxic stinger poised atop their tails -- are proliferating thanks to urbanization and warming temperatures.

The result is that scorpions have become the most lethal poisonous animal in Brazil, posing a growing danger for people across the whole country -- and spurring demand for antivenom.

The most widely found species in the country, the Brazilian yellow scorpion, is the most dangerous scorpion in South America.

Unusually for scorpions, this all-female species also reproduces asexually, reducing population-control options.

"With a warming habitat, these animals' metabolisms are also warming, so they are more active, eating more and reproducing more," explained Thiago Chiariello, production coordinator of the scorpion antivenom lab at Brazil's Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo.

Add to that rampant urbanization which both scares away scorpions' natural predators such as lizards and birds while boosting the number of available cockroaches -- tasty meals for the arachnids -- and the problem is evident.

"Cities are growing unchecked" and the spread of trash they bring means more food supply for scorpions, Chiariello said.

"This is leading to more contact with people, which means more accidents."

- Soaring sting numbers -

Last year -- the latest dataset available -- there were 152 deaths from scorpion stings in Brazil, compared with 140 from snakebites. That was an increase from 2019, when 95 deaths by scorpion sting were recorded.

According to Brazil's health ministry, there were more than 200,000 scorpion sting incidents registered last year -- 250 percent more than a decade earlier, and an average of nearly 550 stings per day.

Healthy adults might get mild to moderate symptoms from a Brazilian yellow scorpion sting, including pain, vomiting, profuse sweating and tremors.

But there are more severe symptoms -- including shock, fluid build-up in the lungs, cardiovascular collapse and heart failure -- that can prove deadly, especially for children and the elderly.

- Life-saving antivenom -

That makes the Butantan institute's antivenom very important.

Chiariello's team carry out their serum-making task in making that serum with extreme precision.

They first use tweezers to guide a live scorpion's stinger into a container.

The poison is then injected into horses, which are less vulnerable to the toxin's effects than humans, and which produce more antibodies.

"There is a whole purification process in the horses' blood," explained Paulo Goldoni, a biologist at the institute.

"The serum is the only way to save lives," he said.

Last year saw more than 11,000 people in Brazil receive scorpion antivenom, mostly in the country's heavily populated southeast, according to authorities.

With serum demand growing, but also the number of available scorpions, the Instituto Butantan has a steady supply of venom donors.

"If ever there was a lack of serum, we would certainly see a serious increase in the number of deaths," the biologist said.

S.Jordan--TFWP