Search

Background Recently the number of disaster and mass casualty incident (MCI) is increasing in Korea, but there have been few administrative reports or technical reports for disaster and MCI. An ad hoc basis data collection method is usually incomplete and outdated. This study was conducted to investigate the new surveillance system composed of EMS based real time survey and medical records based in-depth survey.MethodsA retrospective review was conducted of the 119 fire department call center database and ambulance running sheets in one metropolitan city. The data on all transported patients with non-medical reasons (fire, rescue and others) between May 2006 and December 2008 was reviewed. We selected all data from the accidents which had more than 2 casualties to exam the feasibility and conducted in-depth surveillance based on medical records.ResultsThe total number of accidents was 2,027 with 2,625 patients. The number of accidents which had more than 2 patients was 307 (total 898 patients) and more than 6 patients was 19 (total 176 patients). Among the “MCI” events, 15 cases were traffic accidents (125 patients, 71.0%), 4 cases were fire (51 patients, 29%). Total 142 medical records (80.7%) were reviewed. Admission rate was 32.4% (46 patients) and overall mortality was 3.5% (5 patients).ConclusionThis nationwide public EMS system could contribute to the establishment of the systematic disaster database.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the health of Tokyo inhabitants was affected by lead in the ambient air, on the bases of place of residence, age and sex. The study came about as a direct result of public concern over a press report that people living near busy traffic intersections were being poisoned by lead in the air. In 1970 and 1971, the laboratories of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Health and the Occupational Health Service Center performed laboratory tests on inhabitants who were concerned about air pollution and presented themselves to their local health departments. The results were then passed on to the Keio University School of Medicine for evaluation.The average lead levels in blood and urine were slightly higher in those person living in houses which faced a main street (13.3 μg/100ml blood) than in those who living on side streets (12.8 μg/100ml). However, there was no association found to exist according to the distance of the house from the main street. Blood lead levels were higher in males (15.0 μg/100ml) than in females (11.2 μg/100 ml). Lead levels in urine were also higher in males than in females: 13.1 μg/100 ml as opposed to 11.7 μg/100ml. There was no particular association between age and lead levels in blood or urine.The average lead levels in blood and urine differed by district but showed no systematic pattern or relationship to the population density. This seems to be due to technical differences between the two laboratories responsible for the testing as well as to the difficulty in determining such small amounts of lead in blood and urine.In conclusion, according to the available techniques, there was no evidence of an increased level of lead in blood or urine as a result of lead in the ambient air of Tokyo. The results obtained in this study agree with a previous report by the present authors' and with a report by Tepper and Levin2 from the U.S.A.