[Fauna attacks in French Guiana: retrospective 4-year analysis]. / Agressions par la faune en Guyane Française: analyse rétrospective sur 4 ans.

The rich, diversified fauna of French Guiana has an infamous reputation for its aggressiveness. A retrospective analysis of the records the SAMU emergency service in Guiana showed that less than 1% of phone calls received between 1998 and 2001 involved fauna attacks. Most of these calls involved flying hymenoptera (36.9%), snakes (15.6 %), dogs (13.8%), and scorpions (9.8%). In 69 of 666 cases, the attack was severe enough to warrant dispatching a SMUR intensive mobile care unit. These cases involved poisonous snake bites (n=35), flying hymenoptera stings (n=24) and scorpion stings (n=5). Although this study presents numerous confounding factors, its findings indicate that the risk of fauna attacks in French Guiana may be overestimated.