Epidemiological aspects of scorpion stings in AI-louf Province, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Inform at ion on sco rpio n stings is ava ilable for man y parts of Saudi Arab ia, but not for Al-I oufProvince.METHODS: We reviewed and ana lyze d 1449 cas es of scorpion stings that presented to the eme rgency dep artmentof the hospit als and medical ce nte rs in Al-louf Province during a 2-yea r period (2005 -2006).RESULTS: The majority of patients (92.7%) man ifested class I enve nomation with local pai n at the sting site as theprimary complaint. Systemic toxic ity was not iced in 7.3% of cases bu t no death s were reported. Scorpion stingswe re record ed throughout the yea r with the highest seaso na l incide nce in the summer (64.3%) and the lowestdur ing the win ter (10 .6%). The highest monthly incid en ce was in June (21.5%) and the lowest in Decem ber(1.5%). Most of the patients were male (77 .3%) and the age of 44 .2% of victims ran ged between 15 to 30 yea rs.Diurna l stings exceeded the nocturn al ones with a ratio of 3:2, and most of the stings we re located mainl y onthe exposed limbs (88.6%), espe cially the lower limb s (51.7%). Leiurus quinques triatus and Androctonus crassicaudawere incriminated in most record ed ca ses .CONCLUSIONS: Our find ings ind icate that scorpion stings a re commo n in Al-lo uf Province, especia lly duringthe summe r. The ove rall threat to hum an health was found to be low.