A multinational team used Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modeling combined with field observations from central Morocco and globally available soil, temperature, and habitat data to map and predict hotspots for venomous scorpion species beyond Morocco, including tropical regions with sparse records.

The study underscores translational implications for antivenom development and rapid diagnostics, advocating multidisciplinary collaboration among ecologists, clinicians, public health experts, and local communities to improve diagnostic tools and therapies, especially in resource-limited settings.

Researchers envision using the mapping approach to guide public health actions, such as targeted awareness campaigns, frontline clinician training, and prevention efforts in high-risk areas, with potential applicability from Brazil to the Middle East and India.

Notably, the approach aims to globally improve public health responses by protecting children and informing region-specific prevention and education efforts.

Dr. Michel Dugon emphasizes pinpointing high-risk areas to help health authorities target awareness campaigns, train clinicians, and shield vulnerable populations, including children, across diverse regions.

The study is a collaboration between the University of Galway in Ireland and University Ibn Zohr in Morocco, involving students and researchers and published in Environmental Research Communications.

Findings reveal pronounced ecological heterogeneity: some scorpion species have broad habitat tolerance while others are narrowly distributed, indicating region-specific risk patterns and the need for targeted healthcare resources and education.

First author Fouad Salhi notes that biodiversity data can inform public health policy, and that combining long-term fieldwork with ecological modeling enables real-world impact for Morocco and beyond.

The researchers advocate moving from reactive to proactive public health responses by using predictive mapping to allocate resources efficiently and reduce envenomation-related morbidity and mortality.

The work highlights potential to repurpose ecological insights into scalable, device-agnostic applications across continents, addressing data scarcity in tropical regions and informing interventions from the Americas to Asia.

Global context: scorpion stings affect over two million people annually, with more than 3,000 child deaths, underscoring the public health importance of better identifying risk areas and improving care.

Although thousands of species exist, only about 100 of over 2,000 are potentially lethal, yet stings remain a major health issue with tens of thousands of injuries and thousands of child fatalities yearly.