Scorpions are "taking over" Brazil's cities, scientists have warned. And with these infestations comes a huge rise in stinging incidents, some of them fatal.
The deadly stings are often from Brazilian yellow scorpions, known for their extremely toxic venom. Climate change and urbanisation have been blamed for the exploding scorpion population and, experts say, it might already be impossible to stop.
More than 1.1 million scorpion stings were recorded in Brazil between 2014 and 2023 – with the number reported annually jumping by 155% – according to a study published in Frontiers in Public Health. The surge in numbers is "driven by rapid, unplanned urbanisation", said The Guardian. The sprawl of "high-density housing" encroaches on scorpions' natural habitats in the wild and "poor waste disposal" creates new environments where they can "thrive".
The Brazilian government seems "ill-equipped" for the "Herculean, if not downright impossible" task of tackling the infestations, with no plan other than "tepid" efforts to train health officials in "scorpion risk", wrote Hamilton Coimbra Carvalho, a researcher at the University of São Paulo, on The Conversation in 2019. He claimed it was likely to already be "too late" to stop the spread of scorpions across Brazil's cities.
But the arachnids are "not our enemies", Manuela Berto Pucca, from São Paulo State University, told The Guardian. As "part of the natural world", they play "essential ecological roles", from "controlling pest populations to maintaining biodiversity". And, crucially for the humans who live alongside them, they "act defensively, not offensively". | 
