[Fatal aorto-esophageal fistula due to accidental ingestion of button battery. Algorithm for management of disk-battery ingestion in patients younger than 6 years old].

The ingestion of disc battery is a common problem in children and current treatment may be sometime inadequate. Ingested button batteries have the potential to cause significant morbidity and mortality. Ingestion of button batteries has been seen with increasing frequency over the last decade, particularly for children aged younger than 6 years.

Development of a new categorization system for pesticides exposure to support harmonized reporting between EU Member States.

Objectives: European legislation requires reporting from Member States on acute poisoning incidents involving pesticides. However, standard rules for data collection and reporting have not yet been set out. The new categorization system presented in this paper is aimed at enabling Member States to gather comparable data and provide standard reporting on pesticide poisoning exposures.

[A 25-year study (1983-2008) of children's health outcomes after hyperbaric oxygen therapy for carbon monoxide poisoning in utero].

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning during pregnancy can be fatal for the fetus, or cause bone malformations or encephalopathy, depending on the stage of pregnancy at which the poisoning occurs. Fewer cases of death and encephalopathy have been reported since the adoption of maternal hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy in this setting, but these children's long-term psychomotor development and growth remains to be documented. A prospective single-center cohort study spanning 25 years (1983 - 2008) included all pregnant women living in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France who received HBO for CO poisoning and who gave birth to a living child.

Mass lead intoxication from informal used lead-acid battery recycling in dakar, senegal.

Background And Objectives: Between November 2007 and March 2008, 18 children died from a rapidly progressive central nervous system disease of unexplained origin in a community involved in the recycling of used lead-acid batteries (ULAB) in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal. We investigated the cause of these deaths.

Methods: Because autopsies were not possible, the investigation centered on clinical and laboratory assessments performed on 32 siblings of deceased children and 23 mothers and on 18 children and 8 adults living in the same area, complemented by environmental health investigations.

The role of poison control centres in the protection of public health: changes and perspective.

After the World War II, poison centres (PC) were created with the goal of improving the care of poisoned patients and prevention. Four decades later, they are still recognised for their traditional activities, but they are faced to new challenges. The development of numerous toxicological databases on CDROM or on the Internet has changed the needs of health professionals to call a PC, reducing the number of enquiries but increasing the need of expertise.

Oxygen therapy for CO poisoning: rationale and recommendations.

CO poisoning remains a serious public health problem. Oxygen is the basis of its treatment and HBO has been proven more effective to prevent cognitive sequelae than NBO. Most commonly accepted criteria for HBO treatment are: comatose patient, loss of consciousness, neuropsychological and cardiac symptoms and pregnancy.

Pregnancy outcome after exposure to ranitidine and other H2-blockers. A collaborative study of the European Network of Teratology Information Services.

Background: Published data on pregnancy outcome after exposure to H2-blockers is scarce. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the data collected by the memberships of the European Network of Teratology Information Services (ENTIS).

Methods: The patients were pregnant women who or whose doctor or midwife did contact a Teratology Information Service for risk assessment after the use of a H2-blocker in pregnancy.

[Acute dystonia from metoclopramide in children].

A retrospective study (1995-2000) of reports of cases of metoclopramide poisoning collected at the Lille poison control centre (184 phone calls) shows the frequent occurrence of acute dystonia in children (81 cases). These spectacular extrapyramidal symptoms consist of abnormal movements (31 cases), local hypertonia (30 cases), acute dyskinesia (17 cases), general hypertonia (16 cases) and oculogyric crisis (13 cases). There is no dose-effect correlation and sex has no influence on the occurrence of neurological symptoms.

Poisons in the air: a cause of chronic disease in children.

Children represent the largest subpopulation of those susceptible to the adverse effects of air pollution. Compared to adults, children express a greater vulnerability, which can be explained by differences in: the circumstances of exposure related to age, their activities, their child status, differences in lung anatomy and physiology, differences in the clinical expression of disease, and their organ maturity. Many factors have to be assessed in order to evaluate the severity of toxic exposures: pollutant solubility, particle size, concentration, reactivity of pollutants, and pattern of ventilation.