Acute illnesses associated with pesticide exposure at schools.

Context: Pesticides continue to be used on school property, and some schools are at risk of pesticide drift exposure from neighboring farms, which leads to pesticide exposure among students and school employees. However, information on the magnitude of illnesses and risk factors associated with these pesticide exposures is not available.

Objective: To estimate the magnitude of and associated risk factors for pesticide-related illnesses at schools.

Pesticide-related illness: are poison centers reporting to the state health department?

Pesticide-related illness should be reported by physicians to state health departments. Since poison centers (PC) are involved in the management of many of these cases, it may be assumed that they should report these cases. A 5-y audit of pesticide related illness reported to a centralized state pesticide oversight agency (PARC) was conducted.