The opening of the island, known as Sindalah, comes amid persistent doubts about NEOM's viability
world1 week ago
Forget snakes, it's scorpions Brazilians most need to worry about.
The arachnids — feared for the toxic stinger poised atop their tails — are proliferating thanks to urbanisation 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."
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 per cent 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.
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.
The opening of the island, known as Sindalah, comes amid persistent doubts about NEOM's viability
world1 week ago
The Israeli Prime Minister's office issued the statement in response to what it referred to as a 'completely false' local television report about US pressure on Israel
world1 week ago
Israeli President Isaac Herzog termed the United States as a 'true ally'
world1 week ago
'All acts of escalation are condemnable and must stop', said the spokesman for the Secretary-General
world1 week ago
Indian agencies have uncovered a network that sold fake tickets or charged exorbitant prices for legitimate ones for both concerts
world1 week ago
Saturday's attack was one of the deadliest attacks in the area in recent months
world1 week ago
Satellite data from Brazil's space research agency Inpe showed that Bolivia had 70,628 fire hot-spots up until September 22
world1 week ago
According to airport authorities, flight operations will be halted starting 6:00 PM on Thursday
world2 weeks ago