Health care for pesticide applicators in a locust eradication campaign in Kuwait (1988-1989).

Pesticide applicators in the Plant Protection Department of the Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources Authority are monitored regularly by the Occupational Health Section of the Ministry of Health. The aim is to protect them from the adverse effects of pesticides and to prevent acute poisoning by removing from exposure those who have low cholinesterase (ChE) activity levels or low white blood cell counts. Thirty-eight workers routinely examined in July 1988 were reexamined at the onset of the locust invasion in Kuwait in November 1988; also examined were 36 farmers recruited for the first time to fight locusts and a matched control group of 38 firefighters.