Severity Of Poisoning Research Articles

Change in electrolytes in a case of parathion poisoning.

Our purpose in reporting this case of parathion poisoning is to make known (<i>a</i>) the observed changes in the serum pH and calcium, phosphorus, and potassium levels and (<i>b</i>) the hitherto unreported residual manifestations affecting the central nervous system resulting from anoxia, prolonged unconsciousness, convulsive seizures, electrolytic and pH shifts, and/or severe cholinesterase depression. These latter may serve as a warning of the potential toxic effects of the chemical in nonfatal cases. The former, it is to be hoped, will stimulate follow-up studies in order to determine whether the changes in pH and electrolyte concentration are as determinant of the variations in symptoms, the severity of poisoning, and the prognosis as are the changes in the cholinesterase levels of the plasma and cells. <h3>REPORT OF A CASE</h3> A 19-year-old man had worked in close contact with parathion for a total of 69 hours before onset of illness (table 1). This

LEAD POISONING

Examination of the records of patients with lead poisoning admitted to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia revealed a seasonal incidence in the onset of encephalopathic symptoms. Figure 1 shows the monthly distribution of onset of symptoms of the patients with frank lead encephalopathy admitted to this hospital. In constructing this figure only patients with frank encephalopathic symptoms of rather acute onset were counted; patients with latent or subclinical plumbism, usually discovered accidentally, who exhibited no obvious encephalopathic symptoms were not included. It is apparent from figure 1 that almost all of the cases occur during the late spring and summer months. Shelling and Hopper1commented on the same seasonal incidence of the cases studied in the Harriet Lane Home. We assumed that there was a real relation, probably causal, between the summer season and the increased severity of lead poisoning and planned experiments to examine the seasonal factors which