Infectious disease morbidity in Kibbutzim
Fattal, B.
Harefuah 115(5-6): 111-115
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0017-7768 PMID: 3192122 Document Number: 316756
In a project aimed at estimating health risks associated with environmental pollution in kibbutzim, clinic files from 68 kibbutzim with a total population of 29,632 covering a period of 4 years (1974-77) were studied. Visits for, and episodes of 24 infectious, respiratory, and digestive diseases, as well as others, were analyzed. The mean number of visits/person-year recorded for all symptoms and diseases was 3.28 .+-. 1.32 and for the 24 diseases, 0.77 .+-. 0.35. Upper respiratory symptoms comprised the major component (16.4%). Episodes of the 24 diseases were between 80-100% of the total visits of individual patients. For 5 diseases (paratyphoid, salmonellosis, shigellosis, aseptic meningitis and leptospirosis) the episode rates in this study were equal to or slightly higher than those reported to the Ministry of Health. However, there was a large deficit in reporting for streptococcal throat infections, which were 120 times more frequent in the clinic records than as reported to the Ministry of Health.