Carlos Roberto deMedeiros

Carlos Roberto de Medeiros is a Brazilian physician and researcher whose work concerns clinical toxicology, toxinology, allergology, and clinical immunology. He has been associated with Instituto Butantan in São Paulo and its Hospital Vital Brazil, a specialist hospital that treats patients injured by venomous animals.

Education

Medeiros earned a doctorate in sciences from the University of São Paulo Faculty of Medicine. His doctoral thesis, defended on 18 October 2007 in the area of allergy and immunopathology, was titled Manifestações alérgicas aos venenos ofídicos como moléstia ocupacional em herpetologistas ("Allergic manifestations caused by snake venoms as an occupational disease in herpetologists"). The thesis examined occupational allergy among people exposed to Bothrops jararaca venom and investigated factors associated with IgE-mediated sensitization. A related study examined 67 workers exposed to B. jararaca venom. The study reported specific IgE to the venom in seven participants and identified occupational exposure factors associated with sensitization, including handling dried venom.

Career

Medeiros has worked as a physician associated with Instituto Butantan and Hospital Vital Brazil. His work has included the clinical evaluation and treatment of envenomation caused by snakes and other venomous animals, as well as the study of allergic reactions to animal venoms. In a 2015 report, Exame identified Medeiros as a physician and director of Hospital Vital Brazil. The report described his participation in an initiative known as “Identificadores”, a WhatsApp group through which physicians could send photographs of snakes, spiders, and other animals to specialists for identification during medical emergencies.

Research

Medeiros has published research on venom allergy, snakebite, loxoscelism, and the clinical evaluation of injuries caused by venomous animals. His research on Bothrops jararaca venom allergy examined snake handlers and venom handlers exposed to the species' venom. The authors concluded that occupational exposure can result in IgE-mediated sensitization and identified several factors associated with allergy. He was also a coauthor of a report on anaphylactic reaction following a Bothrops snakebite. In a 2017 study, Medeiros and colleagues evaluated infrared thermography in eight patients with bites or stings caused by snakes, spiders, and scorpions. The authors reported that thermal images corresponded to localized inflammatory effects and suggested that infrared thermography could be useful for research, diagnosis, and monitoring of envenomation. Other publications involving Medeiros have addressed bites by Philodryas species, Bothrops jararaca bites with and without envenomation, and the clinical features of human loxoscelism. In 2026, he was listed as a coauthor of a review of reported bushmaster (Lachesis species) bites in the Americas.

Selected publications

• de Medeiros, Carlos R., et al. “Predictors of Bothrops jararaca venom allergy in snake handlers and snake venom handlers.” Toxicon, 2008. PMID 18207481.
• de Medeiros, Carlos R., et al. “Anaphylactic reaction secondary to Bothrops snakebite.” Allergy, 2008. PMID 18186816.
• “Comparison of Bothropoides jararaca bites with and without envenoming treated at the Vital Brazil Hospital of the Butantan Institute, State of São Paulo, Brazil.” Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 2010. PMID 21181018.
• “Infrared thermography to diagnose and manage venomous animal bites and stings.” Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 2017. PMID 28562767.
• Pardal, Pedro P. O., Carlos Roberto de Medeiros, et al. “A review of reported bushmaster (Lachesis spp.) bites in the Americas.” Toxicon, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2026.109034. PMID 41713657.