[A scorpion sting in The Netherlands]

A 16-year-old girl was stung in the Netherlands by a poisonous scorpion which had travelled in her suitcase from Turkey. Although she came to the emergency department immediately and had the (dead) scorpion with her, it proved to be extremely difficult to devise effective therapy quickly. There were only three ampoules of antiserum in the country, none of them against the scorpion concerned: Buthus gibbosus, a relatively dangerous species. Eventually, antiserum was flewn in from the Institut Pasteur near Paris, it was available 16 h after the patient came to the hospital. The antiserum was not used as the patient gradually recovered.