ACCIDENTS WITH CATERPILLARS OF THE GENUS LONOMIA REGISTRED AT THE RIO GRANDE DO SUL’S CENTRO DE INFORMAÇÃO TOXICOLÓGICA, IN PERIOD OF 1997 IN THE 2005.

MARIA DA GRAÇA  BOUCINHA MARQUES(1)

(1)Centro de Informação Toxicológica do Rio Grande Do Sul, Fundação Estadual de Produção e Pesquisa Saúde, Secretaria Estadual de Saúde. Universidade Luterana do  Brasil/RS.

The insect of the Lepidoptera Order can sum up to 165,000 species of butterflies and moths. For the agriculture, the caterpillars (immature form) represent significant damage in all continents as well as in the area of the public health due to accidents with either the caterpillar or its adult form. The accidents with caterpillar of the Lonomia sort represent a serious problem for public health in the South Region of Brazil, being these occurrences object of accompaniment and attention. An accidents occurrences retrospective analysis involving gender caterpillars Lonomia notified to the Emergence Room of CIT/RS in the period from 1997 to 2005 was made, summing to 1009 records, of which 984 occurred in the State and 25 in other places.  The 5ª Coordenadoria Regional de Saúde (CRS), located in the mountain ridge region, with headquarters in Caxias do Sul, presented the biggest absolute number of accidents with Lonomia sp. 191 (19,4%). The accidents incidence caused by Lonomia was of 9,9/100.000 inhabitants for Rio Grande do Sul. Regionally, it can be seen that the 15ª CRS,  Palmeira das Missões in the region of Alto Uruguai, north of the state, presents the biggest incidence with 48,7/100.000 inhabitants. Passo Fundo and Bento Gonçalves were the cities that stood out the most in absolute numbers of accidents. The biggest number of cases occured during summer. It has predominance of the 0 to the 19 years, mainly in the masculine sex. The anatomical region of more frequent contact was the upper limbs, mainly the hands. The lethality was 0.5% for accidents with Lonomia sp. in Rio Grande do Sul. As for the gravity of the accidents, it had larger incidence of light and moderated cases with evolution for the cure, despite the occurrence of seven deaths, in the evaluated period. In this context, the mapping of the risk areas, the knowledge diffusion, the optimization of the net that makes available specific immunobiological medicine, as well as the improvement of the Systems of Monitoring Epidemiology are important factors for the control of these accidents.

KEY WORDS: Lonomia, Epidemiology, Lepidoptera

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