Abstract
Modern research during the last decades has shown that both snakebites and scorpion stings are among the most important causes of envenoming and are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality, and hence they are a major public health issue in tropical and desert areas in many regions including the Middle East. This has generated a plethora of research in several regions, not only the classification and determination of the fauna but also of the intricate mechanisms of actions and resultant effects on humans. This chapter highlighted the major tracks of research undertaken to gain a better understanding of the intricacies of scorpions and snakes that share our ecosystem. The distribution of snakes and scorpions, classification, and mechanism of action of their venoms will be summarized. Management modalities, whether with serotherapy or supportive, will be discussed to enlighten on researches undertaken to protect humans from these ancient foes. Moreover, research undertaken to study and fully characterize venom toxins will be outlined with emphasis on new trends of utilizing venom toxins as beneficial therapeutic biological interventions in several disease states such as hypertension, thromboembolic disease, and cancer.