Spatial Distribution of Scorpionism in Ardabil Province, North West of Iran

• Main Authors: Esmaeil Ghorbani, Mulood Mohammadi Bavani, Shahla Jafarzadeh, Abedin Saghafipour, Nahid Jesri, Eslam Moradiasl, Alireza Omidi Oskouei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 2018-09-01
• Series: International Journal of Pediatrics
• Subjects: Children; Iran; Scorpionism; Spatial distribution
• Online Access: http://ijp.mums.ac.ir/article_10841_bc6d7c73c75f61b437a4af8f19e2a68f.pdf

Background Scorpion stings are the most important health problems in tropical and subtropical countries. The aim of this study was to assess spatial distribution of scorpions and scorpionism in Ardabil province, Iran. Materials and Methods This descriptive–analytic study wascarried out in all 10 counties of Ardabil province, Northwestern Iran.The clinical and demographic data of scorpion sting cases were collected from questionnaires belonging to an 8 year - period of 2010 to 2017. In addition, scorpions were captured using Ultra-violet (UV) light, Pitfall traps and digging methods. After species identification, Arc GIS 9.3 software was applied for mapping spatial distribution of them. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 21.0). Results A total of 958 scorpion sting cases were documented. One hundred ninety cases (19.83%) of them were occurred in age group