Epidemiological Factors and Indicators Related to Venomous Bites and Stings in High-risk Areas of Southern Iran

Poisoning caused by the bites and stings of poisonous animals is one of the most important causes of injury and death in the southern regions of Iran. The present study was designed and implemented with the aim of determining the epidemiological factors and indicators related to venomous bites and stings in the high-risk areas of Bashagard county.

This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 in the medical archive of Baqiyatallah-al-Azam Hospital in Bashagard city. Based on the prepared checklist of demographic variables, data related to bites, stings and implemented therapeutic measures were collected. For descriptive analysis, absolute and relative frequency, Mean±SD were calculated. To check the difference between the variables, the chi-square test was used at the significance level of (α=0.05).

In total, 201 cases of bites and stings caused by poisonous animals were recorded. The gender ratio of the patients was 63% female and 37% male. In terms of occupation, the most injuries occurred among housewives (33.5 %). The results of the X2 test showed that there is a significant difference between the distributions of the duration of hospitalization in the studied victims according to age group (P<0.005, df=6, X2=201). Also, there was a significant difference between the distribution of hospitalization time in the studied victims and the type of bites and stings (P<0.005, df=4, X2=22.4).

The results showed that educated people, women and the age group under 10 years are more at risk. Using these results, effective interventions can be made to reduce cases of poisoning caused by poisonous animals by implementing appropriate training programs in the field of personal protection.