Abstract

OJEDA, Marta A  and  NEDER DE ROMAN, Lilia E. Scorpions and scorpionism in the province of Jujuy. Acta toxicol. argent. [online]. 2017, vol.25, n.1, pp.12-22. ISSN 1851-3743.

In South America the scorpions that are of health care importance belong to the Buthidae family and to the Tityus genus. There are six species in Argentina: T. trivittatus Kraepelin, T. confluens Borelli, T. bahiensis (Perty), T. argentinus Borelli, T. paraguay­ensis Kraepelin and T. uruguayensis Borelli, of which only the first three demostrated to possess toxic poisons capable of causing fatal accidents. T. confluens is the most important species in Jujuy and T. trivittatus has been recently recorded. Also present is T. argentinus, which has not posed a health risk to date. The objectives of the present work were to identify scorpions of the Tityus (Buthidae) genus received at five reference institutions in the province of Jujuy, to identify their distribution, abundance, seasonality and relation with climatic variables in two eco-regions (Valles and Yungas), area of occurrence of findings and accidents, their sched­ule and epidemiological characteristics of the victims (age, sex, deaths). The period considered was from October 2013 to Septem­ber 2014. Accidents and findings of scorpions from the institutions of the capital city with area of influence in the valleys region and those of the provincial interior with area of influence in the Yungas region were recorded. 422 specimens of scorpions were analyzed. The species present were Tityus argentinus, T. trivittatus and T. confluens; the latter dominated in Yungas. The highest number of T. trivittatus records was obtained in the city of San Pedro de Jujuy. In the Valles region, T. argentinus was the dominant species. The largest number of accidents and scorpion finds were recorded in the morning and in warm months with maximum abundance values in december. Considering the scope of occurrence, 92% of scorpion findings and accidents predominated intradomiciliarly. The bedroom was the most mentioned place (46%). Among the victims, the female sex predominated (66%). The most affected age group was that of adults (75%), in particular the range 26-35 years. In the pediatric group, the greatest number of accidents occurred in children older than 7 years. No deaths were recorded. The knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of T. confluens plus the entrance and colonization of T. trivittatus make the province of Jujuy an area of greater risk, requiring a strict epidemiological surveillance of scorpionism cases. This is the first study that integrates taxonomic and epidemiological aspects in this province.

Keywords : Tityus; Epidemiology; Distribution; Jujuy.