A five-year-old girl died after she was stung by a scorpion while playing with her friends in a front garden.
Victim Agata Sofia Fernandes da Silva was running into her home to get a toy when she is believed to have stepped on the lethal bug.
Agata – from the city of Barreiras, located in the west of the state of Bahia, Brazil – died from heart failure just hours after she was stung on 25th August.
Her aunt Larissa Fernandes told local media she was rushed to the Hospital do Oeste when she turned purple and began hallucinating and vomiting.
Medics gave her cause of death as untreated scorpion venom.
Agata’s death comes after a two-year-old child died in a similar circumstance in Ibirapua earlier this month.
Reports by the state’s health secretariat (SESAB) revealed that a total of 15 people have died of scorpion stings in Bahia between January and August this year.
The number of victims reached 20 last year, claimed authorities.
Experts believe the most likely cause for Agata’s death was a sting fromTityus serrulatus, the Brazilian yellow scorpion.
Its venom is extremely toxic and it is said to be the most dangerous scorpion in South America.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.