ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We are in the edge of some human made disasters such as hazardous materials and air pollution, for example, the world news reported that the city of Bhopal, India had serious victims related with a leaking out of the chemical materials, Methyl Isocyanate and many people in India were killed by. These situations many people who live in this world are worrying about are not others, but just ours and people consider about that kind of the disasters are the possible situation to happen to all the people. Therefore, we performed this basic study to recognize the risk of Methyl Isocyanate leak accident and to prepare local disaster plan with EMS system. METHOD: Trace 8.0, a simulation software made by the U.S. company Safer System was used as a tool to estimate the diffusion distance, area and its victims at the concentrations of 0.02 ppm, 0.2 ppm, 5 ppm respectively for an assumed B-city of 2 hundred thousands population count in which was presumed 500 kg Methyl Isocyanate gas to leak out. RESULTS: 1. During 1 hour, maximum diffusion distances of 0.02 ppm, 0.2 ppm, and 5 ppm were 5.41 km, 1.61 km and 0.29 km respectively on the plume impact. 2. Maximum population counts influenced by Methyl Isocyanate gas at the concentrations of 0.02 ppm, 0.2 ppm, and 5 ppm were 40,838, 4,346 and 222 on the plume impact, while those were 138,238, 17,261, and 1,588 on the vulnerability impact, respectively. 3. Therefore, 17,261 persons must put on respiratory device and 138,283 persons must be evacuated to safety place within 1 hour. CONCLUSIONS: Only small amount leak of Methyl Isocyanate may cause tremendous chemical disaster in urban area, so its disaster plan must be prepared with an accident simulation program and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). Especially, nearby emergency center of an industrial complex must have a strong position about preparation of chemical disaster plan and perform a disaster drill of hazardous material accident annually.
Subject(s)
Humans , Air Pollution , Diffusion , Disasters , Emergencies , Emergency Medical Services , Hazardous Substances , India , Material Safety Data SheetsABSTRACT
This cohort study is a collaborative effort of 8 institutions. The goal is to establish a large scale cohort that can be followed for 10 or more years to assess the relationship between life-styles and cancer occurrence, and to evaluate the role of environmental exposures in the development of six major sites of cancers(stomach, liver, lung, colorectum, uterine cervix and female breast) in the rural population. Since 1993, 11,304 men and women aged over 35 living in four areas have been recruited. The number of target population is 30,000 persons, which is expected to be successfully recruited until 1999. Each subject has completed a detailed questionnaire on general life-styles, reproductive factors, and agricultural chemical exposures through the interview. Anthropometric measurements with body fat composition and the routine clinical laboratories were examined. For the cancer-free cohort, physical examination by the physicians and serologic tests for hepatitis markers, some tumor markers, and lipid profile have been done, but not all. In order to provide an opportunity to incorporate barious biomarkers of exposure and effect as well as genetic susceptibility, a biologic tissue bank has been established from blood and urine sample(plasma, WBC buffy-coat, RBC clots, and urine supernatant) stored at-70degrees C. Re-examination of changes in exposere to risk factors will be done periodically. Disease occurrence will be ascertained by the active(mainly through diagnosis by physicians) and the passive surveillance(through both death certificate and screening of medical utilization records).
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Adipose Tissue , Biomarkers , Cervix Uteri , Cohort Studies , Death Certificates , Diagnosis , Environmental Exposure , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Health Services Needs and Demand , Hepatitis , Korea , Liver , Lung , Mass Screening , Physical Examination , Risk Factors , Rural Population , Serologic Tests , Tissue Banks , Biomarkers, Tumor , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is a retrovirus that has been identified as a cause of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and tropical spastic paraparesis. HTLV-I infection is highly endemic in the southwestern islands of Japan, Caribbean basin, South America, and Africa. In 1993, we showed that the seroprevalence of antibodies to HTLV-I was 0.13% among blood donors in Korea, but surprisingly, 0.80% in Cheju-Do adjacent to endemic areas of Japan. So this study was designed to reevaluate the seroprevalence of antibodies to HTLV-I among residents in Cheju-Do. METHODS: Total 2,372 residents in Cheju-Do were tested from December 1995 to March 1996. Anti-HTLV-I antibodies were detected by the microtiter particle agglutination test. RESULTS: Among total 2,372 residents, 19 were anti-HTLV-I positive. So the overall positive rate of anti-HTLV-I antibodies was 0.80%. The positive rate in females was higher than in males (0.82% vs 0.78%). The positive rate was 1.45% in the age group of 20-29 years, 1.41% in 40-49 years, 0.91% in 0-9 years, 0.70% in 30-39 years, and 0.54% in 50-59 years. The mean age of seropositive cases is 35.2 in males and 35.4 in females, with a mean of 35.3. Geographically, high positive rate was observed in Sogwipo-City (1.37%) and Namcheju-Gun (0.83%) compared to those of Pukcheju-Gun (0.64%) and Cheju-City (0.61%), which showed high seroprevalence in districts adjacent to endemic areas of Japan. Any specific risk factors or associated disorders of HTLV-I infection could not be found among the seropositive cases. CONCLUSION: The seroprevalence of antibodies to HTLV-I in Cheju-Do was noted to be very high by the microtiter particle agglutination test. So henceforth serosurvey by confirmative laboratory tests is needed, and if high seroprevalence is showed from it, screening of blood donors for HTLV-I in Cheju-Do should be considered to prevent transfusion-associated HTLV-I infection.