Poster 06 - Envenoming provoked by aquatic animals: A South American experience

Poster 6. Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia, 8., Symposium of the Pan American Section of the International Society on Toxinology, 8., 2004, Angra dos Reis, Brasil. Abstracts... J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl.Trop. Dis., 2004, 10, 3, p.365.

1 Botucatu School of Medicine – Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil; 2 Hospital Vital Brazil – Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brasil.

Introduction, methodology and results: the injuries caused by venomous and poisonous aquatic animals may to provoke serious problems, including important morbidity and occasional death of the patients. The cnidarians (jellyfishes and Portuguese man-of-war) caused nearly 25% of the injuries observed in a series of 236 accidents by aquatic animals registered by the author in the Brazilian coast (1). The injuries were caused by the Cubozoa Chiropsalmusquadrumanus and Tamoyahaplonema and the Hidrozoa Physaliaphysalis (The Portuguese man-of-war) and Olindiassambaquiensis. The sea urchins provoked about 50% of the injuries and diverse species of fishes nearly 25%. The more important venomous fishes observed in Atlantic South American waters were the catfishes, the stingrays and the scorpionfishes. The injuries caused by catfishes are the most common in freshwater and marine ambient, but those caused by stingrays and scorpionfishes caused the most severe envenomations. (1). In the rivers and lakes, in a series of about 200 injuries, the venomous South American freshwater stingrays and catfishes caused the most severe wounds, causing intense pain and skin necrosis (especially the stingrays of the family Potamotrygonidae), but there were a great number of traumatic and bizarre injuries like those caused by piranhas and candirus, the first a carnivorous fish and the second a small catfish that can invade the urethra of human beings. Conclusions: the author presents clinical aspects of the injuries caused by cnidarians, echinoderms and venomous fishes and prevention and treatment of those accidents, with emphasis in the South American Atlantic and freshwater animals. The most common complications are observed in injuries caused by venomous fishes and they are manifested by extensive necrosis and severe infections.

Reference (1) Haddad Jr, V. Atlas de animais aquáticos perigosos do Brasil: guia médico de identificação e tratamento (Atlas of dangerous aquatic animals of Brasil: a medical guide of identification and treatment). Editora Roca, São Paulo, 2000.