Take the sting out of living in scorpion country
By Debra Dominguez, Las Cruces Sun-News
Sunday, April 1, 2001 [articles]
They have slender crab-like claws and a long thin tail armed with a sharp stinger.
And unfortunately for many residents of the Southwest, these spider-related critters try to make your home their home because they are well adapted to living in desert areas like Las Cruces.
Scorpions. You can't live with them. And, well, you can’t live with them.
Or can you? One company, at least, is trying to make living with scorpions a little easier.
Rare Disease Therapeutics Inc. of Nashville, Tenn., recently signed an agreement with Laboratories Silanes of Mexico City, Mexico, to register, market and distribute a series of polyvalent antibody antivenins, including one for scorpion stings, in the United States and other global markets.
Milton Ellis, president of Rare Disease Therapeutics, and Juan Lopez Silanes, vice president of Laboratorios Silanes, said the first antibody product to be marketed is the scorpion antivenin.
Ellis and Silanes said this should be “of interest to residents in the southwestern United States, where no such antivenin has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration."
A common scorpion in the Chihuahuan Desert is the bark scorpion, which has a hard, waxy, multi-layered cuticle that helps them retain moisture and avoid desiccation.
Although most scorpions in the Las Cruces area have a mild venom, there are those with a more dangerous venom called a neurotoxin, which attacks the nervous system.
Small children and older people with health problems are most likely to be at risk if stung.
Health experts say a healthy adult will usually survive with some discomfort, unless they have some venom allergy.
Jim Dye, who has been co-owner and now president of Border Pest Control for 27 years, said there are several species of scorpions in New Mexico.
“The most dangerous is the bark scorpion, centruroides sculpturatus, which is usually about two inches but can reach a length of about three inches," he said. "These scorpions can be identified by the long pincher and by the stinger. They are also rather long and thin."
“The sting of this arachnid can cause a localized burning sensation and numbness at the sting and sometimes around the mouth or face," he said. "Hyperactivity and salivation can occur, as well as difficulty breathing and sometimes even convulsions.”
Dye said in the case of a sting by a scorpion, the scorpion should be captured if possible. If these symptoms occur the specimen can then be identified to help with treatment.
“An ice pack can help slow the distribution of venom and help to reduce swelling,” he said. “If a young child is stung you should seek medical attention right away. Antivenins are the best treatment for stings of this species. Small children and the elderly can be affected more by the sting of scorpions, and in very rare cases death can occur."
Dye said more common species in New Mexico are the striped scorpion, vaejovis spinigeris, the vaejovis coahuilae, which has no common name and the Desert Hairy scorpion, hadrurus hirsutus, which is found quite commonly in the Gila Wilderness. Dye said the sting of these scorpions is much like that of a wasp and is not dangerous.
Bark scorpions, which are of the buthidae family of scorpions, can be striped with black, while others may be completely straw-colored.
The centruroides vittatus bark scorpion differs from C. exilicauda bark scorpion, which has the more dangerous venom called a neurotoxin, in that the vittatus usually has a dark triangle around the eye and the next to the last tail segment is often slightly darker than the rest.
Although scorpions breed at various times, Dye said most people will start seeing the spider-related critters emerge in May and continue to make their presence known throughout the summer.
“There's certainly a problem with scorpions in this area,” he said. “But they really are most prevalent in the summer months and hang around until about October.”
Dye said scorpions are nocturnal, meaning they usually come out only at night. To help find scorpion activity sites, a black (or ultraviolet) light can be used to help find them.
Scorpions are fluorescent and will glow under UV light.
The veteran exterminator said to help reduce harborages, keep your garage and yard clean, and keep things like bricks and lumber stacked neatly of the ground. Keeping insect populations down will also help in their control.
Scorpions, which are generally solitary except during mating, also make homes out of holes in rock walls, and make breeding grounds under bark and rocks in shrub, desert or grassland areas. Because they cling to the underside of bark and/or rocks, scorpions may not be noticed at first.
"Those are the areas we normally spray if we exterminate your home for scorpions,” he said. "And we treat the entire outside perimeter of your home to try to keep the scorpions from getting inside. Scorpions feed on crickets and roaches, so if you have those insects in your home – that’s what's keeping the scorpions alive. They don't normally eat food crumbs or things of that sort.”
Dye said it is not unusual, however, for a scorpion to eat only once every six months because their vision is far from perfect.
“So, they end up eating by sheer accident,” he said. “They just wait around for something to bump into them and when they sense it they grab it with their claws, sting it, paralyze it and then chow down. They really do eat by chance.”
Calling in a professional exterminator or buying exterminating products from retail store will help eliminate scorpion problems, but you have to know where to use the products, Dye said.
The longtime exterminator said he does receive many calls regarding scorpion problems in Las Cruces, but he said the bulk of scorpions live on the outskirts of the city where there's more moisture, farmland and irrigating going on.
“Scorpions, like many other pests, need moisture,” he said. “That’s why they try to crawl inside homes. They get in through the vents or crawl up walls to windows. They'll find a way to get into your home in the summer time if they sense moisture, especially if you have an evaporative cooler.
With thousands of scorpion stings reported in the Southwest each year, many health and poison control officials support the approval of Rare Disease Therapeutics' new antivenin.
"We are eagerly awaiting FDA approval of this antivenin for use in the United States,” said Dr. Leslie Boyer, medical director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center.
She said in Arizona alone, there are more than 8,000 scorpion stings reported every year.
Jude McNally, a managing director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, said the antivenin will alleviate symptoms within a few hours.
Silanes said the product has been used successfully in Mexico.
“We have treated more than 150,000 scorpion stings with this antivenin each year, with minimal side effects and no reported deaths,” Silanes said.
Rare Disease Therapeutics Inc. has already received orphan designation for the, scorpion antivenin, and plans to submit a New Drug Application to the FDA.
"Orphan” is the name given to those rare disorders that afflict less than 200,000 persons - too small a population to be significant interest to major pharmaceutical companies.