Acute health effects of the Tasman Spirit oil spill on residents of Karachi, Pakistan.

ABSTRACT:

Background

On July 27 2003, a ship carrying crude oil ran aground near Karachi and after two weeks released 37,000 tons of its cargo into the sea. Oil on the coastal areas and fumes in air raised health concerns among people. We assessed the immediate health impact of oil spill from the tanker Tasman Spirit on residents of the affected coastline in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods

We conducted a study consisting of an exposed group including adults living in houses on the affected shoreline and two control groups (A and B) who lived at the distance of 2 km and 20 km away from the sea, respectively. We selected households through systematic sampling and interviewed an adult male and female in each household about symptoms relating to eyes, respiratory tract, skin and nervous system

SUBMITTER: Janjua NZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1484477 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature