Women Retrieving Luggage Stung by Scorpion at Logan Airport

A 40-year-old woman was hospitalized after she was stung by a scorpion while retrieving her luggage at Boston's Logan International Airport on Sunday, March 2.

Massachusetts State Police said the woman was removing pieces of baggage from the luggage claim area of customs in Terminal E around 7:30 p.m. Sunday when she was stung. Boston EMS personnel transported the woman to an area hospital for treatment. An update on her condition has not been made available. 

Boston 25 News reported that the scorpion had not been located as of Monday, March 3. Authorities are currently investigating the incident. Massachusetts State Police said they did not know where the scorpion came from or what type it was, and the Massachusetts Port Authority had no additional information to provide.

"Their intended targets are not humans," said Jessica Garb, an associate professor at UMass Lowell, in an interview with NBC10 Boston. "It's conceivable that the scorpion could have somehow got entangled in some luggage, unintentionally, and got transported."

"Most of the time, people just get really bad pain," said Dr. Michael Simpson of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in response to a question about the severity of scorpion stings in humans. "It's been described as like a bee sting, and it's usually children that are more likely to actually get sick, to get really systemically sick."

Scorpions, a type of elongated arachnid, are closely related to spiders, mites, and ticks. Although scorpions may be regarded as primarily desert-dwelling creatures, according to National Geographic, they can exist in extreme climates and geographic conditions, including rainforests, the Himalayas, and certain parts of North America. The San Diego Zoo notes that the venom in scorpions can contain as many as 45 toxins.