Introduction: Epidemiological information on poisonings by venomous animals is fundamental in order to elaborate proposals for educational campaigns for prevention of poisonings, and may contribute to the improvement of the care of patients admitted to health facilities.
Objective: Thus, the objective is to analyze the epidemiological profile of spider and scorpion poisoning in the Upper Juruá region, Western Amazonia, Brazil, from 2012 to 2017.
Methods: Epidemiological data were obtained from the records of SINAN (Information System of Notifiable Diseases) in the Epidemiological Surveillance Sector of the Juruá Regional Hospital located in Cruzeiro do Sul.
Results: There were 207 cases of accidents with arachnids, predominantly stinging by scorpions (148 cases, 71.9%), in the Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Sector of the Juruá Regional Hospital located in Cruzeiro do Sul. The average morbidity coefficient during the study period was 12 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for spider bites and 29.28 for scorpion stings. There was no correlation between spider and scorpion incidents with rainfall over the months during the study period.
Conclusion: The average incidence of spider and scorpion incidents in the Upper Juruá region is one of the highest recorded for the Brazilian Amazon and is higher than the averages for Brazil, the Northern region and the state of Acre. Incidents with spiders and scorpions were not correlated with rainfall, and other factors associated with species biology or with human activities related to the temporal distribution, therefore there could be a risk of an arachnid incident throughout the year.