Abstract

Dr. Pravanchana Sahu* and Dr. Prafulla

ABSTRACT

A scorpion has a flattened elongated body and can easily hide in cracks. It has 4 pairs of legs, a pair of claws and a segmented tail that has a poisonous spike at the end. Scorpions vary in size from 1-20 cm in length. Out of 1500 scorpion species, 50 are dangerous to humans. Scorpion stings cause a wide range of conditions, from severe local skin reactions to neurologic, respiratory and cardiovascular collapse. Envenomation from most scorpions results in a simple, painful, local reaction that can be treated with analgesics, antihistamines, and symptomatic/supportive care. Scorpion stings are a major public health problem in many underdeveloped tropical and subtropical countries, especially Sahelian Africa, South India, the Middle East, Mexico, and South Latin America. The estimated annual number of scorpion stings is 1.2 million leading to 3250 deaths (0.27%). For every person killed by a poisonous snake, 10 are killed by a poisonous scorpion. In Mexico, 1000 deaths from scorpion stings occur per year. In the United States, only 4 deaths in 11 years have occurred as a result of scorpion stings. Furthermore, scorpions can be found outside their normal range of distribution, that is when they crawl into luggage, boxes, containers, or shoes and are unwittingly transported home via human travelers. Signs and symptoms at the site of the sting may include-difficulty in breathing, muscle twitching or thrashing, Unusual head, neck and eye movements, drooling, sweating, nausea and vomiting, High blood pressure (hypertension), accelerated heart rate (tachycardia) or irregular heart beat (arrhythmia), restlessness or excitability or inconsolable crying (in children).