Scorpion stings woman at Logan Airport in Boston

By Riley Rourke

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — A scorpion stung a woman at Logan Airport in Boston Sunday night, according to Massachusetts State Police.

Sgt. Gregory Jones said the 40-year-old woman was getting luggage in the baggage claim area of customs at the international terminal when she was stung around 7:30 p.m.

In a statement, Jones said the woman was taken “to an area hospital for treatment.”

Her name has not been made public, and there’s no word on her condition or what hospital is treating her.

Police did not say where the woman had been travelling. There has been no comment yet from Massport, which runs Logan Airport.

The type of scorpion is still not known.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that scorpion stings can cause intense pain and redness. They say that symptoms can also include agitation, arrhythmias, bleeding, uncontrollable muscle spasms, shock, pancreatitis, coagulation disorders, and death.

A sting from a scorpion with venom can cause more serious health effects that impact the heart, organs, and nervous system, according to the CDC. They say that children may also develop neurologic symptoms from the sting. Some scorpion stings require hospitalization and antivenom, the CDC explains on their website. The agency says that most stings are not serious, however, and usually require pain management, wound care, and a tetanus shot.

If you are worried about being stung by a scorpion, shake out all clothes and shoes before wearing them and be fully covered in areas where scorpions are common.

Scorpions live on every continent besides Antarctica, according to the San Diego Zoo. They are nocturnal archnaids typically found in grasslands, deserts, and tropical rainforests in burrows. There are 1,500 species of scorpions that all have venom, but only 25 are life-threatening to humans, and only two live in the United States, the Zoo explains on their website.

The Zoo says that a scorpion’s first sting contains different toxins than a later sting and that it is typically strong enough to “stun a vertebrate prey or predator; later stings are usually milder or used on invertebrates.”

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