Arachnidism in Brazil / Aracnidismo no Brasil

Abstract

Venomous animals represent a severe public health problem given the elevated number of accidents they cause. In Brazil, several incidents with venomous animals are due to arachnidism. Among the various species of spiders, the Phoneutria, or so-called armadeira spider, Latrodectus, the black widow, and Loxosceles, the brown spider, genera are highlighted. These spiders are easily found near or even inside homes, causing mild to severe reactions. The aim of this study is to elaborate a clinical approach to aid patients affected by venomous animals based on the comprehension of spider bite epidemiology and pathogenesis. In conclusion, recognizing clinical manifestations and an early diagnosis elucidate the clinical reasoning essential in acting efficiently and with effective treatment, thus improving the patient's prognosis.

Spiders in Brazil: from arachnidism to potential therapeutic use of their venom part 2 of 2

“…The disorders found in accidents with Phoneutria are similar to the laboratory alterations of scorpionism (Santana et al, 2020a). In the context of cardiac dysfunctions, sinus tachycardia or bradycardia, ventricular repolarization disorders, cardiomegaly, hyperglycemia and hyponatremia are present.…”

“…The clinical evolution of accidents caused by venomous spiders varies according to the genus involved (Albuquerque et al, 2018) and factors related to the physical and genetic characteristics of the affected patient. The clinical developments of arachnidism usually involve cutaneous and systemic manifestations (Santana et al, 2020a;Santana et al, 2020b).…”

“…There is a "pins and needles" sensation at the location of the bite, which may appear as a red dot or be imperceptible. Subsequently, regional myalgia arises, which tends to spread throughout the extremity and the rest of the body (Santana et al, 2020a;Earwood et al, 2020). There is also a decline in the patient's general condition and muscle contracture may occur.…”

“…Regarding loxoscelism, there is still controversy on the best treatment for skin lesions (Lopes et al, 2020). Different treatment protocols have been proposed, depending on the severity of the injury (Sams et al, 2001;Lopes et al, 2020;Santana et al, 2020a;), which can be classified as mild, moderate and severe, considering, mainly, the presence or absence of necrosis and its extension (Sams et al, 2001;Lopes et al, 2020). In general, the treatment of mild injuries "includes RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation), antihistamine, aspirin and tetanus and diphtheria prophylaxis" (Lopes et al, 2020, p. 10).…”

Comparability study between downstream methodologies using physicochemical characteristics of hyperimmune serum for human use

“…Brazilian Journal of Health Review, Curitiba, v. 6, n. 3, p. 9096-9114, may./jun., 2023 Since 1986, the Brazilian Ministry of Health has managed the development of antivenoms in the country, being responsible for delivering all antivenoms produced in the country through the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde -SUS), considering the epidemiological situation of each region and information registered in SINAN (Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação -Notifiable Diseases Information System). The public manufacturing laboratories in Brazil were Butantan Institute (São Paulo, SP), Vital Brazil Institute (Rio de Janeiro, RJ), FUNED (Ezequiel Dias Foundation, Belo Horizonte, MG) and CPPI (Immunobiological Production and Research Center -Centro de Produção e Pesquisa de Imunobiológicos, Piraquara, PR) (Silva et al, 2020) . CPPI is an official Brazilian public laboratory, subordinated to the State Department of Health of Paraná -SESA/PR, and is the exclusive producer in this country of the SALOX -trivalent antiloxoscelic hyperimmune serum.…”