Priapism in Scorpion Stings within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Case Report

Abstract

We report a 2-year-old Saudi boy who presented  with  an  acute  onset  of  asymmetric  pulmonary  oedema, moribund state and priapism. He was living in the desert  and  was  referred  to  our  hospital during the summer. He  was  mislabelled  as  a  patient  with  sickle-cell  disease  as  a  very  high number of patients come with a crisis  of  same  presentation,  and  haemoglobinopathies  are  not  uncommon  in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. On careful examination of the child, there were multiple tiny lesions on both of his feet and abdomen which led to high suspicion of scorpion stings. The index of suspicion was high due to two reasons;(i) it was the summer, during which the incidence of scorpion stings is high and, (ii) the child was habitated in the desert area where scorpions are common. The child was successfully salvaged with symptomatic support and the specific anti-venom  was  given.  The  presen- tation of severe or heavy scorpion intoxication mimics the presentation of sepsis.