Patterns of mango tree trauma in Juba Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Mango trees constitute a third of all the trees in Juba Town and peri-urban area and they produce fruits twice every year. This study was aimed at analyzing patterns of injury in mango tree trauma and evaluating the severity of injuries sustained.

Methods: In this study, 103 patients who sustained mango tree injuries were evaluated. The patients’ ages, sex, tribe and nature of injury sustained after falling from mango trees (Figure 1) were recorded and analysed.

Results: Most injuries were in the limbs (60%) with the upper limbs dominating (40%) compared to the lower limbs (20%). Compared to traffic road trauma, blunt abdominal injuries were rare but serious and occurred in 4 children. The most serious injuries sustained by the patients in this study, included splenic rapture (3 patients), severe head injury (3 patients) and spinal injury (2 patients). One patient died of severe head injury, one patient had post traumatic epilepsy and the patients with spinal injury were discharged from the hospital on wheel chair.

Conclusion: Mango tree injury is a phenomenon which we can compare to a traffic road injuries, where the pattern of injury is not predictable or reproducible, as this depends on the nature of the impact and its severity. The low mortality is due to predominance of limbs injuries, contrary to road traffic crushes in which head, neck and abdominal injuries are common.