Epidemiology of Scorpionism in South Khorasan Province, 2018-2019

Background: Scorpions have been hated due to their venomous stings and fearful appreance from the beginning of human in the earth And Scorpionism is a life-threatening hazard in many parts of the world including Iran.Objectives :Identifying the epidemiology of effective factors causing this health problem could play a major role in its prevention. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand the epidemiology of scorpionism in South Khorasan Province.Materials and methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was designed in which all the people stung by scorpion between March 2018-2019 were investigated. The subjects were residing in Southern Khorasan province, Iran. Epidemiology of patients and demographic data were collected in a checklist and data was analyzed in SPSS V.20.Results: A total of 601 cases stung by scorpion were recorded including 303 males (50.4%) and 298 females (49.6%). The highest and lowest rates were found in people aged 25-44 (33%) and≥65 (10 %), respectively. Among the cases 15% were younger than 10 years of age. Hands, legs, and head and face were the most prevalent sting sites (46%, 45% and 7%, respectively). Most cases of scorpion stings occurred during spring and summer while Aug was the month with highest rate (21%).Of total cases 35% are residing I n urban areas and 65% in rural areas.Conclusion: The highest rate of scorpionism cases have been reported in rural areas therefore, training prevention methods of scorpionism in rural community and also development therefore, training prevention methods of scorpionism in rural community and also development and optimization residential houses and rural roads can greatly reducing the scorpionism

کلیدواژه ها:

Scorpionism ، Epidemiology ، Scorpion