Shit got downright biblical in Egypt in recent days. Storms and flooding destroyed homes led to several deaths near Aswan, Egypt. The catastrophic weather was immediately followed by an onslaught of so-called "deathstalker" scorpions scurrying into mountainside villagers' homes. According to local reports, more than 500 people were bitten by the scorpions on Friday night alone. From the New York Times:
There were hundreds, if not thousands: yellowish four-inchers with as many as six pairs of eyes and a tail full of venom so toxic that the species is known, unscientifically, as the deathstalker[…]
Scorpion experts said the flooding in Aswan had probably driven them from the mountainous desert that surrounds the area and into the villages[…]
Hospitals around Aswan were forced to dig into their antivenom stashes, and a Health Ministry graphic circulating on Facebook over the weekend warned of the most common symptoms of scorpion stings: severe pain at the sting site, high fever, sweating, vomiting and diarrhea[…]
"Professionals can catch the scorpions from the tail by hand," [Suez Canal University scorpion researcher Mohamed] Abdel-Rahman said. "But I don't recommend doing that."
image: "Deathstalker in Negev Desert, Israel" by מינוזיג (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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