A survey on diseases suffering in 5 068 members of rescue teams in Weachuan earthquake / 中华急诊医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the incidence of diseases in member of rescue teams in the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province.Method Twenty days afer the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008,5 068 resucing staff of rescue learns as random and cluster sample were investigated and analyzed to find the factors impacting their fitness associated with their characters,diseases,work,and encampment styles.Results Members of rescue teams suffered from the following diseasesinsect dermatitis (18.37%),tinea pedis (10.83%),acute upper respiratory infection (10.56%)and solar dermatitis (6.20%).Contrasted by work tasks,staff resucing on the front line had the highest incidence of acute upper-respiratory infection(11.04%) ,logistics workers had the highest incidence of tinea pedis(15.21% ),and more patients of acute gastroenteritis,insect dermatitis,gingivitis emerged from medical personnel group(P<0.05).The encampment sites were devided into three sortsplain land,hillside and valley.The staff stayed at valley had higher incidence of acute upper respiratory infection (24.90%),insect dermatitis (36.50%) and tinca pedis (20.02%)than those worked at plain land and hillside (P<0.01).The incidence of acute gastroerrteritis(1.26%) ha staff resides hillside is lower than that in valley or plain land (P<0.05).Conclusions In the period of rescue actions in the guake-hit region,the members of rescue teams suffered from famihar diseases such as dermatitis and acute upper-respiratory infection,etc.The incidence of diseases is associated with their work tasks and the topography of cantonment.