Boy, 6, in serious condition after ‘deathstalker’ scorpion sting

Child taken to Beersheba hospital for treatment after encounter with highly venomous predator

By ToI Staff 29 April 2020, 5:56 pm

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A yellow scorpion in the Negev Desert (Ester Inbar, public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

A young boy was seriously hurt Wednesday after being stung by a scorpion in southern Israel.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the 6-year-old was picked up by paramedics on Route 40 near the Hanegev Junction and taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for treatment, where he was in serious condition but conscious.

The medical service did not specify whether the boy was a resident of the area or what he was doing there. Israel was placed under a curfew confining people to within 100 meters (300 feet) of their homes on Tuesday night and Wednesday for Independence Day.

MDA said the boy was stung by an Israeli yellow scorpion, also commonly known as a deathstalker, which is a highly venomous species common in southern Israel’s Negev Desert.

While the scorpion’s venom is not lethal for adults, it can be deadly for the young, elderly and infirm.

Last week, an 18-year-old girl from an unrecognized Bedouin village near the southern town of Mitzpe Ramon was also hospitalized at Soroka in serious condition after being stung by a deathstalker.