Diretoria de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento, Fundação Ezequiel Dias, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Feb 9;17(2):e0011069. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011069. eCollection 2023 Feb.
Opportunistic scorpion species can colonize urban environments, establishing high-density communities that enhance the chances of human accidents. This scenario has been taking place in Brazil, in which some Tityus species have taken city centers, causing an explosion in the number of scorpion envenoming cases. The characteristics of this scorpionism epidemic in Brazil is discussed in the present work. The number of Brazilian scorpion stings has surpassed 120,000 cases in 2017, and has been maintained above this number ever since, representing a more than 3-fold increase in 10 years, which was higher than the number of cases for most of the neglected tropical diseases in the country. The escalation in scorpionism cases is even higher in some regions of Brazil. Fortunately, the proportion of mild cases has also increased in the analyzed period, as well as the number of victims seeking for medical attention within the first hour after the accident. The species Tityus serrulatus, Tityus stigmurus, Tityus bahiensis, and Tityus obscurus are traditionally accountable for most of the scorpion accidents in different regions of Brazil, but other species deserve to be closely watched. Despite scorpionism being a notable health problem in Brazil, accident prevention and pest control regarding this venomous animal have not been properly addressed by the scientific community nor by policy makers. Therefore, this review also aims to point possible fields of research that could help to contain the aggravation of the current scorpionism landscape in Brazil.
机会主义蝎子物种可以在城市环境中定殖，建立高密度的社区，增加人类意外发生的机会。这种情况在巴西已经发生，一些 Tityus 物种已经占领了市中心，导致蝎子蜇伤病例数的爆炸式增长。本研究讨论了巴西这种蝎子病的特征。巴西的蝎子蜇伤病例数在 2017 年已超过 12 万例，此后一直维持在这一数字之上，在 10 年内增加了 3 倍多，超过了该国大部分被忽视的热带病的病例数。在巴西的一些地区，蝎子蜇伤病例的上升幅度甚至更高。幸运的是，在分析期间，轻度病例的比例也有所增加，以及在事故发生后第一小时内寻求医疗救助的受害者人数也有所增加。在巴西不同地区，传统上 Tityus serrulatus、Tityus stigmurus、Tityus bahiensis 和 Tityus obscurus 等物种是大多数蝎子事故的罪魁祸首，但其他物种也值得密切关注。尽管蝎子病是巴西的一个显著健康问题，但科学界和决策者都没有妥善解决针对这种有毒动物的事故预防和害虫控制问题。因此，本综述还旨在指出可能有助于遏制巴西当前蝎子病恶化的研究领域。
