Abstract

NUNES, Celina Schmidel; BEVILACQUA, Paula Dias  and  JARDIM, Cássius Catão Gomes. Demographic and spatial aspects of scorpionic accident in the northwest region of Belo Horizonte city, Minas Gerais, 1993-1996. Cad. Saúde Pública [online]. 2000, vol.16, n.1, pp. 213-223. ISSN 0102-311X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2000000100022.

This paper analyzes a total of 352 scorpion sting reports in the Northwest quarter of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Traditionally, this area has shown one of the highest case incidence rates, and the present study pointed to 10.37 stings per 10,000 inhabitants. No gender preference was observed, but most victims were 50 years of age or older. Likewise, no relationship was observed between seasonality and sting rates. According to geographic distribution analyses, the highest incidence rates were in areas with the largest scorpion populations. This preliminary descriptive evaluation is important for guidelines to prevent scorpion stings, which should obviously consider local epidemiological features.

Keywords : Scorpions; Spatial Distribution; Epidemiology.