Food poisonings in the region of Tadla-Azilal: The experience of the Moroccan Poison Control Pharmacovigilance Center

The region of Tadla-Azilal is one of the Moroccan regions that are mostly affected by food poisoning, while the exact dimensions of this phenomenon are still poorly identified. The present study aims to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients poisoned by foods, understanding the problem and to reducing its morbi-mortality rate. This epidemiological study included 1410 cases of food poisoning reported between 2000 and 2011 by the Moroccan Poison Control Pharmacovigilance Center (CAPM).During the period of the study, 1410 cases were collected. The geographical distribution of cases indicates that both provinces of the region were affected, with a maximum of reports recorded in the province of Beni Melal (76.0%). Most poisonings occurred in the hot season. The average age of the patients was 23,34±18,58 years. The sex-ratio (man / woman) was 1,19, in favor of the male sex, (c 2=10,44; p=0,001). Food poisoning affected all ages with an ascendancy for the adults (46,9%). The urban population was the most affected (55.64%). The period of consultation was 1,97±5,74 hours. Dairy products recorded the highest number of reports in the region, with 28.9% of cases, fruits and vegetable ranked second, meat and chiken with (7,8 % and 7,7 %) respectively. Patients with symptomatic state represented 97.2%. Symptomatology was characterized by the predominance of stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, cephales, respectively 50.3%, 16.0%, 13.6%, and 7.2%.The analysis of the variance shows that the sex, the season, the rural origin of the poisoned significantly influenced the progress the patients. Among the 1149 cases patients for whom the evolution was known, 1144 cases (811.3%) had a positive evolution and 5 cases died (a fatality of 3,5‰). The epidemiological profile of food poisoning in the region of Tadla-Azilal justifies the implementation of awareness campaigns near the population of this region in order to reduce the incidence and to allow rapid and adapted taking of charge in the case of accident. Key words: Food Poisoning – epidemiological and clinical characteristics -Morbi-mortality- CAPM -Tadla-Azilal- - Morocco