Acute pesticide poisoning in Ecuador: a short epidemiological report

The aim of this paper is to analyze the epidemiological pattern, the occupational background and the public health problems of acute pesticide poisoning in Ecuador. This is the first report of its kind. This was an observational and retrospective study performed with data from 2001 to 2007 from the National Register of Hospital Admissions/Discharges from the Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas y Censos, and also with data from the Ministry of Public Health. Ecuador does not have an official public medical poisoning registry or disease-specific registries. The complete register reported 44,931 cases of poisoning with an average of 6,418 cases per year and a global progressive increase of 2,123 cases in the entire period. It reported 14,145 cases of pesticide poisoning. Of these, 10,100 cases were due to the effects of the insecticides organophospate and carbamate. The number of cases by gender was 7,102 (50.21%) males and 7,043 (49.79%) females. The major age group affected was adolescents and young adults. In Ecuador, pesticide poisoning occurs in individuals of both sexes who are between 15 to 25 years old and work in adverse conditions as agricultural farmers. The poisoning especially occurs in flower and banana plantation workers throughout the country. Seventy-one percent of the cases are due to organophosphate and carbamate poisonings, which cause death in 4% of the cases; 57% die in the first 48 h, possibly because of the acute action of AChE inhibitors. The long-term effects of pesticides are still unclear and need further research.