Injuries caused by arthropods: diagnostic and therapeutic approach in ER

Abstract

Injuries caused by arthropods, primarily insects and arachnids, represent a significant source of lesions and allergies even in Italy, a country that has a negligible number of species with important toxicological characteristics from an emergency medicine point of view; unlike areas such as the Americas or Africa (including northern Africa) where highly toxic autochthonous species are present, whose bite or sting can be life-threatening. Medical consultation both in hospital Emergency Rooms and general practitioners’ surgeries is markedly seasonal, occurring mainly in the spring and summer (April – September), consistent with arthropod activity. At the current time, in Italy, urgent acute arthropod-related injuries are rare and usually involve type I hypersensitivity, and in most cases they are localised lesions that cause discomfort. The aim of the article is to briefly summarise the species of insects and arachnids that are most frequently cause for medical consultation in Italy and to provide assistance in the diagnostic and therapeutic plan, focusing in particular on the importance of health education that in many acute arthropod-derived cases can play an important part in preventing reoccurrence.