Epidemiological aspects of scorpionic accidents in a municipality in Brazil’s northeastern

Abstract

Scorpionic accidents are a major public health problem due to the high occurrence with potential seriousness. In this manner, the research aimed to analyze the occurrence of scorpionic accidents in a municipality in the northeastern of Brazil. An exploratory, descriptive study was made, with a quantitative approach, using secondary data which was gotten from the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN), from 2008 to 2018. Data such as neighborhood, presence of street markets were also used, and the existence of sanitation and climatic data such as temperature and season. Geoprocessing was used to identify possible changes in the environment. In the analyzed period, 9,330 cases of scorpion accidents were recorded, with an average of 848 annual notifications. Scorpionic accidents occurred more frequently in women (5,686; 60.94%). Individuals aged 20 to 29 years (1.727; 18.51%) were more frequent to scorpion stings. Regarding the body parts where the stings were made, the highlights were on the foot (3.515; 37.67%) followed by the hand (2.818; 30.20%). No statistically significant relation was observed between climatic factors and scorpionic accidents. However, the high number of cases of scorpionic accidents was observed in the last 11 years studied. It was evident that during the study period there was no statistical relationship when climatic factors were correlated to scorpionic accidents. On its turn, when it was verified the results of the geoprocessing analysis, it was seen that anthropic factors have been motivating the potentiation of the occurrence of these accidents.

Evolution of the occurrence of Tityus serrulatus (LUTZ & MELLO, 1992) in the state of Santa Catarina

“…In this study, most cases took 31-60 min from the time of envenoming until the victim had medical assistance (48.2%), with the shortest time being up to 30 min (27.7%). These results are similar to those observed in other studies, which showed that most victims had specialized assistance in less than 1 h after the sting 10,14,15 . Lisboa observed a higher incidence in the time elapsed before care from 1 to 3 h after envenomation (39.3%) 13 .…”

“…Other studies have also reported a higher incidence of mild cases in several regions of Brazil, while severe cases varied from 0.4% to 13.5% [10][11][12][13] . Envenoming with T. serrulatus registered in Santa Catarina did not evolve severely, which can be associated with the lower number of cases with children in this state, since other states show a higher prevalence in children aged 0-12 years old [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and T. serrulatus is involved in most severe cases and fatal outcomes, especially when the victims are children 17 . This was also observed in other studies, which reported a greater volume of envenomation classified as serious among children aged 4-8 years and the occurrence of one pediatric death, which evolved in less than 24 h to acute pulmonary edema and cardiogenic shock 14 .…”

Aspectos Epidemiológicos e Sociais do Escorpionismo em Município do Recôncavo Baiano, Brasil

“…Lisboa et al 20 sugerem que este fenômeno ocorra devido à estabilidade dessas condições climáticas, resultando na proliferação dos escorpiões durante todo o ano. Entretanto, o estudo de Santos et al 40 não observou relação significativa entre fatores climáticos e escorpionismo, mas verificou que fatores antrópicos podem potencializar a ocorrência dos acidentes.…”

“…O escorpionismo é uma condição negligenciada de áreas tropicais e subtropicais, associada às condições de desequilíbrio ambiental, pobreza, desinformação e acesso reduzido a antivenenos efetivos 40,41 . A vulnerabilidade de um indivíduo ou população relaciona-se diretamente com a susceptibilidade a determinado agravo, associada à menor disponibilidade de recursos na atenção de forma individual ou coletiva 42 .…”

Análise espacial e temporal da ocorrência de acidentes escorpiônicos no Estado de São Paulo

“…Scorpionism in Brazil has increased significantly in the last decade, leading the ranking of accidents caused by venomous animals in the country . The evolutionary process allowed a wide adaptation of several scorpion species, such as T. serrulatus, allowing greater dissemination that led them to occupy regions ranging from deserts to urbanized centers (Dabo et al, 2011;Santos et al, 2021).…”