For people living in temperate regions of Europe, the Americas and much of Asia, scorpion stings are rarely a concern. But for millions of children growing up across the subtropical belt, a scorpion sting can have devastating consequences.
While snakebites are receiving increasing international attention and funding under the leadership of the World Health Organization, scorpionism (the medical term for illness caused by scorpion venom) remains under-reported, under-funded and under-researched. Worse still, this silent epidemic appears to be growing, fuelled by a combination of climate change, urbanisation, global trade and human encroachment into natural habitats.
In Brazil, scorpion stings have tripled over the past decade, as scorpions settle in major cities around the country. In Sudan, the construction of the Merowe Dam in 2009 and the rapid development of gold mining complexes displaced scorpion populations into nearby settlements, triggering localised epidemics.
