São Paulo – A tourist from São Paulo Cid Penha, who lived in the city of Santos, on the coast of São Paulo, died last Sunday (14/7), during a trip to the city of Morro de São Paulo, in Bahia. The main suspicion is that he was bitten by a venomous animal, in this case a brown spider, but the causes of death are still being investigated and experts disagree on the cause.
Cid, who was 65 years old, was traveling with a group of six friends and, on July 9, took a boat trip and had dinner in a restaurant. He complained of discomfort due to a possible bite on his leg and, the next day, he sought the Basic Health Unit in Morro de São Paulo. The site of the alleged bite, the calf, was red and swollen.
Due to the seriousness of the situation, he was transferred to two hospitals: first to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Valença (philanthropy unit) and then he was taken to the Incar, in Santo Antônio de Jesus, where he died. The hospital did not confirm the cause of death.
The care team followed the established protocols for unidentified insect bites. Because of the possible need to apply serum, the patient was referred to Santa Casa de Valença, a reference unit for serum. In Santa Casa, although the bite of the brown spider was considered unlikely, due to the rarity of the arachnid in the region, the doctors performed the procedures, but the patient did not improve. A cardiac patient, Cid was transferred to the Instituto do Coração (Incar), a private hospital, in the municipality of Santo Antônio de Jesus, where he was hospitalized until his death.
Rejane Lira, coordinator of the Regional Center for Ophiology and Animal Genetics (Noap) at the Federal University of Bahia (Ufba), told the newspaper State of S. Paulo that the record of brown spiders is very rare in the region visited by tourists. The researcher sent photos of the wound to fellow experts and they all considered it unlikely that it was caused by spider venom.
The Department of Health of the State of Bahia reported that they are following the case of the tourist from São Paulo. In 2024, according to the ministry, 605 cases of accidents caused by spiders were reported through the Notifiable Diseases Information System (Sinan) in Bahia, with three deaths.
The Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Valença reported that the São Paulo resident was attended to in less than 30 minutes and contacted the Bahia Anti-Poisoning Information Center to indicate that an attack by a brown spider was unlikely.
The Ministry of Health determines that all deaths caused by venomous animals are investigated. Necrosis at the site of the bite – the death of part of the skin tissue – is one of the most common manifestations of this type of poisoning, which affects about 8 thousand people per year, according to the Ministry of Health.