Many reports have indicated the medical importance of animal poisons in Iran. The significance numbers of Iranians are injured from high endemic to sporadic, by venomous snakes, scorpions, wasps, bees, fire and velvet ants, spiders and backswimmer bugs, so their nuisance prevention is an important task

Dehghani, R.

Many reports have indicated the medical importance of animal poisons in Iran. The

significance numbers of Iranians are injured from high endemic to sporadic, by venomous

snakes, scorpions, wasps, bees, fire and velvet ants, spiders and backswimmer bugs, so their

nuisance prevention is an important task

Dehghani R.* PhD

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International Archives of Health Sciences

Venomous Animals; Are They Important in Iran?

kashan university of medical sciences

©2015 ASP Ins., Afarand Scholarly Publishing Institute, Iran
ISSN: 2383-2568  Quarterly of International Archives of Health Sciences 2015;2(4):167-169
C I T A T I O N    L I N K S
Article HistoryReceived: October 10, 2015         Accepted: December 9, 2015          ePublished: December 31, 2015
Correspondence
Address:  Faculty of Environment Health, Social Determinant of Health Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Qotb-e-Ravandi Boulevard, Kashan, Iran
Phone:  +98 31 55540111
Fax:  +98 31 55540111dehghani37@yahoo.com
*“Social Determinants of Health Research Center” and “Depart-ment of Environment Health, School of Health”, Kashan Univer-sity of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
[1] Iran has the second rank of  snake bite and scorpion sting in the world [2] Environmental toxicology [3] Medical entomology for students of health and medicine 
[4] Repartition continental des scorpions [5] Epidemiology of scorpionism: A global appraisal [6] Scorpion sting prevention and treatment in ancient Iran [7] Introducing Compsobuthusmatthiesseni (Birula, 1905) scorpion as one of the major stinging scorpions in Khuzestan, Iran [8] Study of scorpionism in Kashan in central Iran [9] Scorpion sting in Iran: A review [10] Toxic effects of scorpion, Hemiscorpiuslepturus (Hemiscorpiidae) venom on mice [11] Epidemiological and clinical survey of scorpionism in Khuzestan province, Iran (2003) [12] Snake bite [13] Snake-bites: Appraisal of the global situation [14] The global burden of snakebite: A literature analysis and modeling based on regional estimates of envenoming and deaths [15] Epidemiology of venomous and semi-venomous  snakebites (Ophidia: Viperidae, Colubridae) in the Kashan city of the Isfahan province in Central Iran [16] Incidence of Snake Bites in Kashan, Iran During an Eight Year Period (2004-2011) [17] Epidemiological Profile of Snakebite in Iran, 2009-2010 Based on Information of Ministry of Health and Medical Education [18] Ten years of snakebites in Iran [19] The identification of bacterial flora in oral cavity of snakes [20] Contribution to the distribution of spiders with significant medical importance (Araneae: Loxosceles and Latrodectus) in Iran, with a new record for the country [21] Faunestic study of ants with emphasis on the health risk of stinging ants in Qeshm Island, Iran [22] Medical importance of fire ant Pachycondylasennaarensis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Iranshahr and Sarbaz Counties, southeastern of Iran 
[23] Fauna aquatic insects in sewage maturation ponds of Kashan University of Medical Science 2005 [24] Fauna and habitat of aquatic arthropods of Kashanin2010 [25] Spider bite (latrodectism) in Mashhad, Iran [26] First record of the Mediterranean Recluse Spider Loxoscelesrufescens (Araneae: Sicariidae) from Iran [27] Spiders of medical 
importance in the Asia-Pacific: Atracotoxin, latrotoxin and related spider neurotoxins
Many reports have indicated the medical importance of animal poisons in Iran. The 
significance numbers of Iranians are injured from high endemic to sporadic, by venomous 
snakes, scorpions, wasps, bees, fire and velvet ants, spiders and backswimmer bugs, so their nuisance prevention is an important task.
A B S T R A C TA R T I C L E    I N F O
Article TypeEditorial
AuthorsDehghani R.* PhD  Keywords  Bites and Stings; Animal, Poisonous
How to cite this articleDehghani R. Venomous Animals; Are They Important in Iran? International Archives of Health Sciences. 2015;2(4):167-169.
Venomous Animals; Are They Important in Iran?
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Venomous Animals: Is or Is Not Important in Iran                                     168 
Int Arch Health Sci                                  Fall 2015, Vol. 2, Iss. 4 
Venomous animals are found in most orders 
of the Animal Kingdom and in the majority of 
habitats, both terrestrial and marine. As Iran's 
climate is more arid and semiarid, cold blood 
animals, e.g. snakes and arthropods such as 
scorpions, are abundant. It is estimated that 
Iran has about 250,000 cases of bites and 
stings of venomous animals per year, which is 
the second ranked in the world after Mexico 
[1]. Scorpions and snakes are the most 
important poisonous animals of Iran [2, 3]. 
 
Scorpions 
Scorpions are an evolutionarily old group of 
animals and more than 2,000 species have 
been recognized around the world [4]. About 
1.2 million cases of scorpions’ stings are 
reported all over the world per year, which 
about 3250 cases lead to deaths. According to 
Chippaux &  Goyffon, the mean rate of sting 
incidences in the world per year per 100,000 
of population is about 17.14 cases [5]. 
Scorpions are among the most dangerous 
venomous animals in Iran [6]. These 
arthropods sting a large number of people all 
over the country every year, especially in 
warm and humid regions of South and South-
West, resulting in clinical complications and 
death. Therefore, the mean of scorpion sting 
incidences in Iran is higher than the global 
average [7, 8]. During 2002-2011, 433,203 
victims of scorpion stings had referred to 
health centers in all 31 provinces of Iran. The 
incidence of scorpion stings in 100,000 of 
populations was reported from 54.8 to 66.0 
during 2002-2011 [9-11].  
 
Snakes 
Venomous snakes are distributed in most 
parts of the world, which are a serious threat 
to public health, especially in the areas where 
they are most abundant [12]. It has been 
estimated that annual snakebite incidences 
are about 5.4 to 5.5 million around the world, 
which caused about 400,000 amputations and 
20,000 to 125,000 deaths [13, 14]. Many 
species of venomous snakes are found in Iran 
[15]. The most medically important species 
that are responsible for the most snakebite 
incidences in Iran belong to the Viperidae and 
the Elapidae families [16, 17]. At least, one 
kind of venomous snake is found in each of 31 
provinces of Iran and many provinces have 
more than one venomous species. As a result, 
snakebite is a considerable health hazard in 
Iran, especially in the rural area of South and 
South-West. From 2002 to 2011, 53,787 cases 
of snakebites were reported by medical 
centers in Iran. The annual incidence of 
snakebites in 100,000 of population varied 
from 4.5 to 9.1 cases and the average number 
of annually deaths were 6 to 12 [18-20]. 
 
Other bugs  
Being stung by hornets, yellow jacket, fire 
ants, wasps, velvet ant and bees were most 
common type of bites in Iran. However, as 
people are not afraid of their stings, they do 
not go to the health centers and no recorded 
data are available. Following the sting of 
hymenopterans, death cases have happened 
rarely [2, 3, 21-24], but some dying cases has 
been reported. However, spider bites are 
considered more toxic, because more cases 
have been fatal [23-27]. Nuisance of the 
venomous animals have a seasonal pattern 
and mostly take place during the warmer 
months of the year. Therefore, formation of 
professional reinforcement staff and regular 
visits to high-risk regions during this time can 
significantly reduce the risk of venomous 
animal injuries. 
 
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Introducing Compsobuthus matthiesseni (Birula, 1905) 
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169                                                                                                                                                                                                  Dehghani R. 
Int Arch Health Sci                                    Fall 2015, Vol. 2, Iss. 4 
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Karrari P, Keyler D, et al. Epidemiology of venomous and 
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and Sarbaz Counties, southeastern of Iran. J Med Sci. 
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S. Fauna aquatic insects in sewage maturation ponds of 
Kashan University of Medical Science 2005. Pak J Biol 
Sci. 2007;10(6):928-31. 
24- Dehghani R, Zarghi I, Aboutalebi M, Barzegari Z, 
Ghanbari M. Fauna and habitat of aquatic arthropods of 
Kashan in 2010. Bangladesh J Med Sci. 2014;13(3):306-10. 
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(Araneae: Sicariidae) from Iran. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 
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importance in the Asia-Pacific: Atracotoxin, latrotoxin 
and related spider neurotoxins. Clin Exp Pharmacol 
Physiol. 2002;29(9):785-94. 
 


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