| RESULTS: 860 clinical files were reviewed. We found a greater frequency of this intoxication in young people and
male gender. The main cause was robbery. 860 clinical files reviewed. 806.13/(2004-1998)=~18 cases annually of emergency-room admissions from "poisoning with criminal intention with scopolamine for one clinic. Now these are beverages not business cards and the number appears to be trivially small. But it's only one clinic, how many clinics are there in Bogotá and more importantly, what is their annual case load? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12245-015-0079-y
"Seventy EDs participated (82 % response). Most EDs (87 %) were located in hospitals, and 83 % were independent hospital departments. The median annual ED visit volume was approximately 50,000 visits." Okay, 18 annual cases per clinic. On any given night a clinic might have 18/50000 = 3.6E-4 cases of scopolamine-laced beverage poisoning. seventy EDs participated (82 % response) 70/.82=~86 clinics in Bogotá...
863.6E-4=3.10E-02 cases a nightly. I know my analysis is a bit rough, but I really am not worried about this happening should I visit Bogotá, Colombia. I'm not going to go out drinking alone by any means, but have some common sense this is not a frequent occurrence. |