Scorpionism is a serious public health problem in Brazil. Although cases of envenomation by scorpions are frequent in Brazil, Tityus silvestris - found throughout the Amazon region - is considered of minor medical significance and with only a few descriptions in the literature. This article aims to describe for the first time the epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of scorpion stings by T. silvestris that occurred in eastern Brazilian Amazon.
A prospective and observational study was carried out on 13 confirmed cases of T. silvestris envenomation registered from 2007 to 2011 in the cities of Belém and Ananindeua, Pará state, Brazil.
The stings occurred mainly during daytime, at domiciliary environment, and the scorpions were found in clothing, fruits or vegetables. Envenomation was more frequent in the age group between 21 and 30 years old, upper limbs were more affected and medical aid was usually provided within two hours. Men and women were equally affected. Regarding severity, ten patients were classified as Class I and three patients as Class II according to the Scorpion Consensus Expert Group. Local manifestations were present in all patients, being pain the most common symptom. Mild systemic manifestations including nausea, vomiting, somnolence, malaise and prostration were observed in three victims. Symptomatic treatment of pain was offered to all patients, and only one received specific antivenom. All victims had a favorable outcome.
To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report the systemic symptomatology of envenomation by T. silvestris in the Brazilian Amazon, highlighting the medical relevance of the species in this region. Further research on the venom and clinical manifestations of envenomation by T. silvestris should be conducted in order to verify the relevance of this species to public health.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
5
10%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
4
8%
Nursing and Health Professions
4
8%
Other
6
12%
Unknown
17
33%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 October 2020.
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#7,721,861
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Outputs from Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
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#93,949
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Outputs of similar age from Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
#1
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Altmetric has tracked 27,777,630 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 72nd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 553 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.9. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its peers.
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