Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of scorpion stings in children in fez, Morocco

Scorpion stings are a public health problem in Morocco, especially among children, who experience the most severe cases. Epidemiological and clinical findings on scorpion stings in Fez, Morocco, were evaluated in this investigation. Of 163 cases that required medical attention, 62.6% were male child...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
Main Authors: S Abourazzak, S Achour, L El Arqam, S Atmani, S Chaouki, I Semlali, R Soulaymani Bencheikh, A Bouharrou, M Hida
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SciELO 2009
Subjects:
scorpion sting
clinical symptoms
envenomation
treatment
children
Morocco
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Toxicology. Poisons
RA1190-1270
Zoology
QL1-991
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992009000200008
https://doaj.org/article/47776ca126cb4b4ca4a1530fcf3c0cef
Description
Summary:Scorpion stings are a public health problem in Morocco, especially among children, who experience the most severe cases. Epidemiological and clinical findings on scorpion stings in Fez, Morocco, were evaluated in this investigation. Of 163 cases that required medical attention, 62.6% were male children. The mean age of patients was 4.8 ± 3.4 years. The mean time between stings and first medical attention was 3.36 ± 2.5 hours. Almost all cases occurred in the summer (94%) and extremities represented the most frequent sting sites (86.5%). Local pain, hyperemia, scarification, vomiting, sweating, restlessness, tachycardia and tachypnea were the observed clinical symptoms. Regarding severity, 55.2% of patients belonged to class III, followed by class II (26.4%) and class I (18.4%). None of our patients received antivenom; however, all of them were treated symptomatically depending on clinical manifestations.

Similar Items