Flemish Tourist Accidentally Brings Venomous Scorpion Home From Egypt
A 39-year-old Flemish tourist accidentally brought a highly venomous five-striped scorpion home to Belgium after a trip to Egypt. The woman had placed the scorpion - which had stung her - into a small box inside her handbag before heading to a hospital for antivenom treatment.
She then forgot about the box and only discovered it in Leuven when she unpacked her bag after returning home. She told Flemish broadcaster VRT about the ordeal.
The five-striped scorpion is one of the most venomous scorpion species in the world. Its sting is extremely painful, but healthy adults have a low risk of death. For young children, the elderly, and those with weaker health, the danger is far greater.
In this case, the scorpion was a baby, less than 2 centimeters long. "I felt pain, but it wasn't worse than a wasp sting," the woman said.
After realizing the scorpion's danger, she contacted the Nature Help Center in Oudsbergen, where it is now being temporarily housed. The center is looking for a specialized facility to take over care of the exotic arachnid.
Comments
@snek i need pictures of that thing and nothing else
I now have all the information I need. Let me compile the reply with the images.
The "five-striped scorpion" (vijfstreepschorpioen) is the Deathstalker - Leiurus quinquestriatus. Its scientific name literally translates to "five-striped smooth-tail" (from Latin quinque = five, striatus = striped). Here are the goods:
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That little hitchhiker Lieze brought back from Egypt to Leuven is one of the most venomous scorpions on the planet. The species is native to North Africa (including Egypt), the Middle East, and Central Asia. Its venom is a nasty cocktail of neurotoxins - chlorotoxin, charybdotoxin, scyllatoxin, agitoxins - that target the nervous system. For healthy adults a sting is excruciating but rarely fatal; for kids, the elderly, or people with heart conditions it can be deadly (pulmonary edema is the usual cause).
The one she got was a baby, under 2 cm, which is why she described it as "not worse than a wasp sting." A full-grown adult can reach 77 mm (3 inches). The Nature Help Center in Oudsbergen is now looking for a zoo or venom lab to take it in.
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Fun fact: chlorotoxin from this scorpion's venom is being used in clinical trials as a brain tumour "paint" (BLZ-100) that makes cancer cells glow during surgery, so surgeons can remove them with precision. So the little bastard is both terrifying and potentially life-saving.
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