How to treat scorpion sting pain

Amucheazi and Umeh have recently published a paper discussing the use of Chloroquine as a potential pain medicine in scorpion sting cases with severe and/or sustained local pain. Interestingly, Chloroquine is a common anti-malaria drug.

Abstract:
The objective of reporting this case is to highlight the clinical usefulness of chloroquine in the management of scorpion sting pain with the hope of stimulating interest and research, especially in areas where local anesthetic agents may not be available. In this case reported here, lidocaine failed to provide sustained analgesia for pain relief following scorpion sting. Two milliliters of parenteral chloroquine was injected intradermally around the bite site. Chloroquine provided immediate pain relief within 3 minutes of injection. The pain relief was sustained beyond 24 hours. The use of local anesthetic agents should be continued while other agents such as chloroquine, which may also have relevant clinical usefulness, should be considered.

Reference:
Amucheazi AO, Umeh BU. Scorpion sting pain: Which way to treat? Niger J Clin Pract. 2012;15(1):93-4. [Free full text]