The First Report of the Dangerous Scorpion Hemiscorpius acanthocercus from Hormoz Island in the Persian Gulf http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: Sep 30, 2021 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, Sep 2021, 15(3): 347–348 M Shahi and H Sanaei-Zadeh.: The First... Letter to the Editor The First Report of the Dangerous Scorpion Hemiscorpius acanthocercus from Hormoz Island in the Persian Gulf *Mehran Shahi1; Hossein Sanaei-Zadeh2 1Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health and Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran 2Emergency Room, Division of Medical Toxicology, Hazrat Ali-Asghar Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran *Corresponding author: Dr Mehran Shahi, E-mail: Mshahi1346@gmail.com (Received 21 Sep 2020; accepted 11 Aug 2021) Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by- nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.by- nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited. Dear editor The genus Hemiscorpius of scorpions belonging to the family Hemscorpiidae is among the most dangerous scorpions in Iran. Different species of this genus were reported from the western and southern regions of Iran (1, 2). So far, death cases due to sting of two species of Hemiscorpius, including H. lepturus and H. acanthocercus, have been reported in Iran (3, 4). The venom of these scorpions causes severe hemoglobinuria and acute renal failure in the victims (5). The body coloration of H. acanthocercus is bright to dark yellow. Pedipalps are bulky and stout. The tip of fingers is brownish. The metazoma segment in males is elongated and slender than in females (Figs. 1, 2). The maximum size of females is 53.0 and males is 60.0 millimeter. These specifications help doctors to identify this dangerous scorpion. Keywords: Hemiscorpius; Scorpion sting; Renal failure; Hemoglobinuria; Iran Figs. 1. Dorsal view of Hemiscorpius acanthocercus, female (left) and male (right), scale in mm. Figs. 1. Dorsal view of Hemiscorpius acanthocercus, female (left) and male (right), scale in mm. 348 http://jad.tums.ac.ir Published Online: Sep 30, 2021 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, Sep 2021, 15(3): 347–348 M Shahi and H Sanaei-Zadeh.: The First... It is considered as one of the main agents of scorpion sting in patients with acute renal failure and severe hemoglobinuria (results in red to brown urine color) in these regions. The sting of this scorpion is painless. This leads to the patient’s lack of attention, and as a result, the patient does not usually go to health care centers immediately. Generally, signs and symptoms of envenomation in these patients appear after several hours to days (up to 10 days). The delay in visiting health care centers causes severe complications and even death in victims. Also, due to the absence of clinical symptoms and signs (laboratory evidences) during the first hours of sting, if the physician does not know about the recognition of the scorpion type, the discharge of the patient is a correct decision that will have irreparable consequences for the patient. Therefore, physicians should consult with a toxicologist or scorpion experts in order to ensure the correct implementation of the treatment process of scorpion sting victims. The island of Hormoz with a population of 7000 is about 42 square kilometers. Its climate is warm and humid. During the summer months the temperature can rise to over 43 °C. Hormoz Island is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the province of Hormozgan in the south of Iran. In recent years, tourism has boomed on this island. So far, the scorpion studies have not been carried out on this island. This is the first report of the identification of H. acanthocercus danger from the island of Hormoz. Considering the importance of the mentioned issue, the establishment and introduction of high risk areas for the presence of dangerous species of scorpions will be great help for the attention of the health care personnel to the scorpion- stung patients in these areas. Authors’ Contribution All the work has been done by Mehran Shahi and Hossein Sanaei-zadeh. Conflict of Interests The author has no conflict of interest Funding/Support None References 1. Dehghani R, Kassiri H (2018) A checklist of scor- pions in Iran (by 2017). Asian J Pharm. 12(3): 880–887. 2. Salari M, Sampour M (2017) First two records of Hemiscorpius species (Scorpiones: Hemiscorpi- idae) from Kerman Province, southeast of Iran. Asian J Appl Sci. 5(1): 101–108. 3. Jalali A, Bavarsad-Omidian N, Babaei M, Na- jafzadeh H, Rezaei S (2012) The pharmacokinet- ics of Hemiscorpius lepturus scorpion venom and Razi antivenom following intramuscular ad- ministration in rat. J Venom Res. 3:1-6. 4. Shahi M, Rafinejad J, Az-Khosravi L, Moosavy S H (2015) First report of death due to Hemiscor- pius acanthocercus Envenomation in Iran: Case report. Electron Physician. 7(5):1234-8. 5. Sanaei-Zadeh H, Marashi S M, Dehghani R (2017) Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of scorpionism in Shiraz (2012–2016); development of a clinical severity grading for Iranian scorpion envenomation. Med J Islam Repub Iran. 31:27. The First Report of the Dangerous Scorpion Hemiscorpius acanthocercus from Hormoz Island in the Pers Dear editor Keywords Authors’ Contribution Conflict of Interests Funding/Support References