A 14-year-old boy is believed to have died after injecting himself with butterfly remains mixed with water as part of a bizarre online challenge.
Davi Nunes Moreira, 14, died in hospital in Planalto, Brazil after his health suddenly deteriorated and he began vomiting.
He had told his father at first he had hurt himself while playing after picking up a limp.
But as his condition worsened, Davi is said to have told medics he went to a chemist’s, mixed a dead butterfly in water and then injected the liquid into his leg.
The death, possibly linked to toxins in the mix which could have caused Davi’s body to shut down as he went into septic shock, continues to make headlines in Brazil.
Police are now awaiting full post-mortem results after opening an investigation into the claims, and whether it was part of a bizarre internet challenge.
Some Brazilian media were openly speculating he had picked up on an experiment he saw online, although Davi is said to have denied that before his death.
Davi died in hospital in the north-east Brazilian state of Bahia last Wednesday.
Davi is said to have told medics he went to a chemist’s, mixed a dead butterfly in water and then injected the liquid into his leg
File photo. Authorities are investigating whether butterfly toxins caused the death
Civil Police in Vitoria da Conquista are leading the investigation into Davi’s death.
A spokesman for the force said: ‘The autopsy results will help clarify the cause of death.
‘The investigation is designed to clear up what happened.’
Davi’s father found the syringe his son used to inject himself under his pillow while he was tidying up the house according to local reports.
Professor Marcelo Duarte, director of Sao Paulo University’s Zoology Museum and a butterfly specialist, said: ‘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.’
The milkweed Monarch butterflies feed on as a caterpillar is actually a poisonous toxin and is stored in their bodies.
This is what makes the monarch butterfly taste so terrible to predators, although experts have been quick to point out the amount of these toxins tends to be too small to represent a serious risk to human health.
Commenting on speculation Davi had been experimenting or taking part in an Internet challenge, Gabriel Moreth wrote online: ‘This generation is complicated and needs a lot of care.
‘They believe in lots of things online, challenges, videos.
‘Rest in peace, how his family must be suffering.’
Social media user Valderiza Guedes added: ‘They could do an investigation on his social media networks.
‘Some of the things you see online are madness and spine-chilling.’
Last April, an online influencer from Brazil suffered necrosis after taking part in an ill-advised viral trend for her two million followers.
Thammy MC, real name Thammy Caroline, was left unable to walk after standing in a bucket of ice and salt for an online ‘dare’ that turned her feet black and nearly required the amputation of her toes.
‘We spent 15 minutes with our feet on the ice with coarse salt,’ she said, recounting the horror.
‘When I took my foot out I never felt such pain in my life. Three of my toes had turned black when it came out of the ice bucket.’
Thammy was treated at a clinic where she says she was told she was at risk of thrombosis, and that she could have developed necrosis had she remained in the ice for another minute.
Unable to put any pressure on her feet, she says she now gets around the house by being dragged in a plastic garden chair by her mother, who pushes her from room to room.
