Impact of - IDL-BNC @ IDRC - International Development Research ...

35-
30-
25 -
20-
5-
0 I I I
1973 1976 1979 1982 1985
1988
Fig. 2. Death rate (%) among cases of nonoccupational poisoning
in Jiang-Su province, 1973-1988.
was 0.4 per 100 000 annually. Moreover, effective medical intervention (including
prompt first aid, rapid transfer of the patient to hospital, improvement of
emergency treatment, appropriate therapy, and intensive medical care) has
successfully reduced the death rate of nonoccupational poisoning from 30%
to 11%.
The township and village-level health-service units take care of more than 98%
of the occupational poisoning cases and 50% of the nonoccupational cases.
When severe, life-threatening cases are transferred to better-equipped facilities,
the rural doctor usually accompanies the patient to provide artificial
respiration and administer atropine if needed.
The rural area of Shanghai
The rural area of Shanghai consists of 10 counties with a population of 4.5
million; most are engaged in agriculture. Over a similar time period, the
incidence of pesticide poisoning was lower than in the Jiang-Su area. Recently,
the number of cases has increased after remaining at a low level for nearly two
decades (1965-1982). Moreover, the types of pesticides causing most of the
poisoning cases have changed. Since the late 1970s, demeton has not been
used; parathion has not been used since 1983. The chemicals currently responsible
for occupational intoxication are methamidophos, phosphamidon,
carbofuran, and chlordimeform, although these are much less toxic than
parathion and demeton.
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