Characteristics of accidents caused by scorpions in Juiz de Fora - MG
Keywords:
Epidemiologia. Escorpiões. Saúde Pública.Abstract
Scorpionism is an important public health issue, specially in tropical and subtropical countries. This retrospective study stablished the accident profile caused by scorpions which happened from january 2002 to december 2007 in the city of Juiz de Fora/MG. 378 notifications were registered concerning accidents caused by scorpions, mainly in the urban area (82.8%), during the hot/rainy period of the year (57.1%), they were considered mild in 79.9%, the delay between the accident and the medical attendance was approximately of 6 hours (85.5%). Upper limbs were the most affected (49.7%). Tityus serrulatus was the species responsible for 63.4% of the cases. Individuals affected were chiefly male (61.6%), white (26.5) and were 37±20 years old. The high incidence rate (12.8 cases/100.000 inhabitants) of accidents confirms that the city is an endemic area of scorpionism, supporting the need of elaborations regarding control strategies and accident prevention.