A 14-year-old Brazilian boy died after injecting himself with butterfly remains — with police investigating if it was part of a twisted online challenge, according to a report.
Davi Nunes Moreira started to vomit and then developed a limp after mixing a dead butterfly in water and then injecting the liquid into his leg, according to the DailyMail.
The teen told his dad he hurt himself while playing — but then confessed what really happened when he continued growing sicker and was admitted to a hospital in Planalto, the report said.
His dad also found the syringe his son had used hidden under the boy’s pillow, according to the report.
Davi was rushed to another hospital in Vitoria de Conquista, the state of Bahia’s third largest city, on Wednesday, but sucumbed to his injuries.
The mysterious death — linked to possible toxins in the butterfly mix that caused his body to shut down as he went into septic shock — is making headlines across Brazil.
Local police are waiting for the full post-mortem results before declaring a cause of death. However, authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the boy was participating in an unusual social media craze that proved fatal, the report said.
“The autopsy results will help clarify the cause of death,” said a spokesman for the Civil Police in Vitoria da Conquista, leading the investigation into Davi’s death.
The investigation is designed to clear up what happened.”
Marcelo Duarte, a butterfly specialist and the director of Sao Paulo University’s Zoology Museum, said toxicity of butterflies to humans has not been studied nearly enough.
“Butterflies have a complex biology, and the fluids present in their bodies have not been studied in depth in terms of their toxicity to humans,” Duarte said.
While the milkweed that Monarch butterflies feed on as caterpillars is a poisonous toxin storied in their bodies, authorities have not specified what type of butterfly the teen injected into his body.
The incident remains under investigation.
