A resident of Santos, on the coast of São Paulo, died last Sunday, the 14th, after being bitten by a venomous animal during a leisure trip to Morro de São Paulo, one of the most famous tourist destinations in Bahia. The suspicion is that the journalist and lawyer Cid Penha, 65 years old, was caught by a brown spider, with highly toxic poison, but the causes of death are still being investigated.
Cid was traveling with friends and, on Tuesday, the 9th, the group took a boat trip and had dinner at a well-known restaurant in the region. It was during dinner that he talked about the discomfort that arose from a possible bite on his leg. The next day, he went to the Basic Health Unit of Morro de São Paulo complaining of pain from the supposed bite in the calf area. The area was red and swollen.
According to the Cairu Health Department, as the patient and his companions were not sure what caused the accident, the care team followed the protocols prescribed 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. The bite site was dark in color with the onset of necrosis. Because he was a heart 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, on Sunday.
On social media, friends mourned the death of the journalist and lawyer, and recalled that he was also about to graduate in Medicine. During his internships, the student worked as a birth attendant.
For the coordinator of the Regional Center for Ophiology and Animal Genetics (Noap) at the Federal University of Bahia (Ufba), Rejane Lira, the record of brown spiders in the region visited by tourists, which is in the Atlantic Forest, is very rare. She said that the group has just completed a survey of the occurrence of this arachnid and, of the eight known species, two were recorded in cave areas in Pau Brasil, in the south of the State, and only one was recorded – a specimen only – in Lagoa do Abaeté, in Salvador.
According to her, in 37 years of research, no occurrence of this spider has been recorded in the Morro de São Paulo region. “Brown spiders of the Loxosceles species, which are of medical importance, prefer the caatinga and cave regions, and are often found in Bahia, in Chapada Diamantina. There are other brown spiders, but they do not cause the this kind of accident”. he told the Estadão. According to her, it is necessary to wait for investigations and the results of the tests that can determine the type of poison that caused the death of the tourist.
The researcher sent photos of the wound to fellow experts and they all considered it unlikely that it was caused by spider venom. “Death from a brown recluse spider bite is usually due to acute renal failure. In this case, the patient appears to have been infected, which occurs when the venom has neurotoxic actions, leading to respiratory failure .This is not the case with the spider.-brown”, he said.
Rejane recalled that the Ministry of Health decides to investigate all deaths caused by venomous animals.
A case is being investigated
Cairu city hall reported that it is already scouring the regions visited by tourists in search of possible poisonous animals. The municipal health department said all protocols were followed until the patient was transferred to a regional referral unit and that the investigation into the case is ongoing.
The Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Valença reported in a note that, in less than 30 minutes after the arrival of the patient, the staff on duty called Ciave (Bahia Anti-Poisoning Information Center, currently Ciatox-BA), and was placed in indicate the probability of attack by a brown spider. Until transfer, the patient was conscious and received all clinical and medical support.
Incar said information about the case is being passed on to the family and authorities only.
In a statement, Ciave indicated that the case is still being investigated. “We haven’t had any similar cases recently,” he said.
The Department of Health of the State of Bahia reported that it is following the case of the tourist from São Paulo, transmitting specific information only to family members. 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 report was unable to contact Penha’s family.