The efficacy of scorpion sting antiserum on the outcome of patients in the emergency department of Arak Vali Asr Hospital

Scorpion sting is one of the common causes of emergency referrals in some regionsand most people consider it a dreadful condition. In most warm and arid regionsscorpion venom antiserum is used routinely. Considering the high prevalence ofscorpion stings in Markazi Province of Iran and its usual benign natural history, wedecided to compare those who received antiserum with the ones who did not.In this quasi-experimental clinical trial, which was conducted in 2003 and 2004, 140patients who were admitted for scorpion stings in emergency department of Arak ValiAsr Hospital were evaluated for complications. All the 72 patients who were referredin 2003 received antiserum; however, in none of the cases who were hospitalized in2004 the antiserum was administered and they were treated conservatively.The frequency of mild, moderate, and severe symptoms in the antiserum group were86%, 12.5%, and 1.38% and in those who did not receive antiserum were 82.3%,17.6%, 0% respectively which revealed no difference.In antiserum group and conservative treatment group the incidence of complicationswere as follows: skin lesions (59.72% vs. 64.7%), constitutional signs (27.7% vs.25%), agitation (18.5% vs. 14.7%), muscle spasm (2.77% vs. 1.47%), and respiratorydistress (1.38% vs. 1.40%) which were statistically similar rates. No mortalityoccurred.Regarding the lack of difference in the severity of symptoms and the frequency ofcomplications between those who received antiserum and the ones who did not, itseems reasonable to withhold scorpion antiserum administration in the MarkaziProvince of Iran and to treat the scorpion sting patients conservatively which is inaccordance with Pasteur Institute of Iran''s recommendation.