Detection of areas vulnerable to scorpionism and its association with environmental factors in São Paulo, Brazil

Scorpion envenomation in Brazil: Current scenario and perspectives for containing an increasing health problem

“…Interestingly, the percentage of urbanization was not different between the lower-and higher-risk areas, despite areas with less natural vegetation can be implied to be more urbanized [40]. More studies evaluating the correlation between rates of scorpionism, climate, and other environmental factors are important to predict future trends and to help to cope with the current epidemic [39,40] Considering the demographic characteristics of envenomed victims, the main profile has not change much between 2007 and 2019 (Fig 2). The proportion of accidents involving adults (20 to 64 years) and the elderly (>65 years) raised about 3%, whereas for the young population (10 to 19 years) and children (0 to 9 years), it has decreased at approximately the same rate (Fig 2A).…”

“…As climate change and deforestation are rising and severely impacting Brazilian biomes [ 182 ], which seems to also affect scorpion fauna [ 37 , 38 , 40 ], we can foresee that scorpionism can have an even larger boom in the near future, if nothing is done to contain it. Therefore, this review aimed to call attention to these topics, expecting that the scientific community can come together with policy makers and the general population to avoid the situation to become even more critical than it already is.…”

“…All the detected higher-risk areas presented lower precipitation, warmer temperatures, and a lower percentage of natural vegetation coverage, indicating a possible association of these factors with the occurrence of scorpion accidents. Interestingly, the percentage of urbanization was not different between the lower- and higher-risk areas, despite areas with less natural vegetation can be implied to be more urbanized [ 40 ]. More studies evaluating the correlation between rates of scorpionism, climate, and other environmental factors are important to predict future trends and to help to cope with the current epidemic [ 39 , 40 ]…”

“…Interestingly, the percentage of urbanization was not different between the lower- and higher-risk areas, despite areas with less natural vegetation can be implied to be more urbanized [ 40 ]. More studies evaluating the correlation between rates of scorpionism, climate, and other environmental factors are important to predict future trends and to help to cope with the current epidemic [ 39 , 40 ]…”

Descrição da ocorrência e da distribuição espacial e temporal de escorpiões na cidade de São Paulo, SP, Brasil

“…Note-se que em São Paulo, assim como em outras regiões o transporte de bens auxiliou no transporte passivo de escorpiões de focos próximos ou distantes[37]. Espécies com alta plasticidade ecológica foram mais favorecidas pelo aquecimento global e pela urbanização, que produziram climas e microclimas adequados,[26,81,[83][84][85] assim como abrigo, acesso, temperatura e umidade adequados e ambientes com grande disponibilidade de alimento, principalmente as baratas[14]. Entendemos que tais condições somadas às condições de vulnerabilidades sociais da população[72] contribuem para aumento no número de áreas escorpiônicas e do número de escorpiões nessas áreas, facilitando a ocorrência de acidentes na cidade de São Paulo e também facilitando a dispersão de escorpiões, principalmente T. serrulatus, para outros locais do Brasil e do mundo com clima ou microclima e ambiente semelhante.…”