RESUMO
El envenenamiento por escorpiones del género Tityus es causa de intoxicación grave y de muerte en niños menores de 8 años de edad en ciertos sectores del Estado Mérida. El tratamiento de estos casos requiere del uso de dosis elevadas del suero anti-Tityus discrepans. Con el fin de disectar geográficamente el problema, se revisaron los registros epidemiológicos regionales entre 1992 y 1998, revelándose un incremento sostenido de la tasa de incidencia en ese período para todo el Estado y la localización de la totalidad de los accidentes graves en los distritos sanitarios de El Vigía y Tovar. La especie más abundante del área endémica resultó Tityus zulianus Gónzalez-Sponga, que habita desde el límite Zulia-Mérida-Trujillo hasta el norte de Táchira. Los valores de DL50 en ratones del veneno de T. zulianus provenientes de Tucaní (El Vigía) (1.68 mg/Kg) y Mesa Bolívar (Tovar) (1.61 mg/Kg) fueron similares, aunque no se descartan diferencias cualitativas y/o cuantitativas en la composición que puedan ser responsables de las diferencias clínicas observadas en los accidentes de ambas áreas
Assuntos
Humanos , Masculino , Feminino , Criança , Soros Imunes , Intoxicação , Venenos de Escorpião , Escorpiões , Farmácia , Toxicologia , VenezuelaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether it is possible to achieve substantial changes in mother's knowledge and attitude, with respect to breast feeding, to feeding during the first year of life, to immunisation and other aspects that have to do with the normal growth and overall development of the child. DESIGN: Controlled, non-random, forward-looking study. SETTING: Primary Health Care. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Study group of 20 mothers, and control group of 17 mothers. INTERVENTIONS: Monthly meetings were held with the study group for 7 months, in which they were given leaflets and talks on health education, with the respective questionnaires before and after the talks. The same questionnaires were given to the control group, when their children were a year old. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All the children of the mothers in the study group were having their children at the right time, compared with 70.6% of those in the control group, a statistically very significant result (chi 2 = 6.8 p < 0.01). The study group gave correct answers 85% out of total, compared with the control group's 37.5%, which is statistically significant (chi 2 = 8.6 p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant change of attitude with regard to immunisation and feeding in the first year of life and a change in knowledge regarding breast feeding, immunisation and other aspects, in the study group as compared to the control group.