Medical referral of patients with acute respiratory failure: lessons learned from a large outbreak of botulism in northern Thailand.
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-39239
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
There was an outbreak of botulism in a district in Nan Province in upper northern Thailand. The outbreak occurred after the villagers took bamboo shoots preserved in a sealed bucket under anaerobic conditions (home-canned bamboo shoots). There were 209 people at risk, of whom 119 (56.9%) were hospitalized. Among the 119 cases, 42 (35.3%) needed ventilators. Of the 42 cases, 25 (59.5%) were transferred to another hospital.OBJECTIVE:
Describe and review transferal processes of the 25 cases and document lessons learned for medical services response from a public health aspect. MATERIAL ANDMETHOD:
Review of records and reports.RESULTS:
All 25 cases were successfully transferred with no mishaps. The duration of transferal was less than 3 hours.CONCLUSION:
Preparedness of local capacity to cope with botulism outbreak of this scale is important. However, it is also necessary to develop a good system for medical referral of severe cases, to be started early in the course of medical care.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Main subject:
Public Health Administration
/
Referral and Consultation
/
Thailand
/
Botulism
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Botulinum Antitoxin
/
Acute Disease
/
Disease Outbreaks
/
Retrospective Studies
Type of study:
Observational study
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Year:
2007
Type:
Article
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