Authors

1Raquel Alarcón Rodríguez, 2Tesifón Parrón Carreño

Position

¹Profesora del Departamento de Neurocirugía y Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad de Almería.²Jefe del Servicio de Salud Pública de la Universidad de Almería.

Contact address

Crta. de Ronda 13,4º 2-A. 04004 Almería.

Contact email: raquelalarcon@ozu.es

Abstract

The province of Almeria has the highest concentration of greenhouses to grow crops both nationwide and internationally, which is accompanied by a large consumption of plaguecides.
The objectives of this work is to determine the frequency of acute intoxications due to the occupational exposure to plaguecides in the province of Almeria and the sociodemographic characteristics of intoxicated patients.
Methodology: data for our analysis on the contamination of cases occurred in the period of time between 2000 and 2003, was retrieved from the files of mandatory reporting of the System of Epidemiological Surveillance of Andalusia (SEVA).
Results: there was a total of 468 intoxication cases; 84% of which were in people who worked in agriculture under plastic roofing and were exposed to plaguicides. 42% of the affected individuals wore no special protective garment at the time of intoxication. Intoxication is more frequent in males, of Spanish personality, aged between 18 and 41, and in people who had had no prior specific training on protection measures.
Conclusion: the nursing professional plays a fundamental role in the intervention to control these intoxications, as the lack of information and the few protective measures in place are the main causes for such chemical intoxications. The nurse can be vital in helping resolve these problems through health education programmes and prevention of work-related risks.

Keywords:

plaguecides; intoxications; work-related or labour health; epidemiologyprevention of risks at the work place

Versión en Español

Título:

Las intoxicaciones por plaguicidas en la provincia de Almería