Health Monitoring in the Bourgogne and Franche-Comté Regions. Update as of August 20, 2015.
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Increase in Emergency Room Visits for Insect Stings in July 2015Numerous reports indicate that hymenoptera (wasps, bees, hornets) have been particularly aggressive this summer. In July and August 2015, the emergency medical services in Dijon and Besançon reported a 20% increase in dispatch calls for insect stings to the Regional Health Agency. A recent study by the Cire using Oscour® data showed that emergency room visits for insect stings follow a seasonal pattern with an increase in the summer (1). Data from May, June, and July of 2013, 2014, and 2015 were analyzed for the departments of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The objective was to verify whether emergency departments recorded an increase—compared to previous years—in the number of visits for insect bites that began in July 2015. Hospital facilities that had reported a diagnostic code (ICD-10) for more than 75% of emergency department visits during the study periods were selected. In total, 20 emergency departments connected to Oscour® met these criteria: 12 out of 23 in Burgundy and 8 out of 14 in Franche-Comté.A syndromic grouping of diagnostic codes related to insect bites was created to account for the heterogeneity of the available codes. The analysis highlights an increase in emergency department visits for insect bites at several hospitals in Burgundy and Franche-Comté in 2015, in some cases beginning as early as May. The observed increase remains modest in absolute terms, averaging about 1 case per day in the largest emergency departments, compared to fewer than one case typically seen during this period. Furthermore, it is not observed in all the hospitals studied nor concentrated in a particular geographic area. The data analyzed is limited to potentially serious cases and certainly represents only a small fraction of those who were stung. Nevertheless, this analysis supports the findings reported by emergency services and the press.
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