IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0266138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Scorpion envenomation in the state of São Paulo, Brazil: Spatiotemporal analysis of a growing public health concern

Author

Listed:
  • Alec Brian Lacerda
  • Camila Lorenz
  • Thiago Salomão De Azevedo
  • Denise Maria Cândido
  • Fan Hui Wen
  • Luciano José Eloy
  • Ana Aparecida Sanches Bersusa
  • Francisco Chiaravalloti Neto

Abstract

Scorpion envenomation is a significant public health concern in São Paulo, Brazil, and its incidence and mortality have increased in recent decades. The present study analyzed documented scorpion envenomation notifications from 2008 to 2018 throughout the 645 municipalities of São Paulo. Annual incidence and mortality rates were calculated and stratified according to sex and age. The local empirical Bayesian method and Getis-Ord Gi* statistic were used to represent standardized incidence rates in the municipalities and to identify high- and low-risk agglomerates. The incidence rate of scorpion envenomation quintupled between 2008 and 2018. Overall, the risk was higher for man, and increased with age. Deaths due to envenomation, however, were concentrated almost entirely in children 0–9 years of age. Incidence maps showed that the risk of envenomation increased in almost all regions and municipalities of São Paulo throughout the study period. The highest incidence rates were found in the western, northwestern and northern regions of the state, in contrast to the São Paulo metropolitan area and southern and coastal regions. Hot spots were identified in the Presidente Prudente, Barretos, São José do Rio Preto, and Araçatuba regional health districts, which over time formed a single high-risk cluster. In spatial terms, however, deaths were randomly distributed. In this study, we identified areas and populations at risk of scorpion envenomation and associated–fatalities, which can be used to support decision-making by health services to reduce human contact with these arachnids and avoid fatalities, especially in children.

Suggested Citation

  • Alec Brian Lacerda & Camila Lorenz & Thiago Salomão De Azevedo & Denise Maria Cândido & Fan Hui Wen & Luciano José Eloy & Ana Aparecida Sanches Bersusa & Francisco Chiaravalloti Neto, 2022. "Scorpion envenomation in the state of São Paulo, Brazil: Spatiotemporal analysis of a growing public health concern," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-15, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0266138
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266138
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266138
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266138&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0266138?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0266138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.