[Acute poisoning with industrial products].

Poisonings with industrial products represent approximately 7% of the cases reported to the poison centres. Ingestion of petroleum distillates induces irritation of the gastrointestinal tract, central nervous system depression and aspiration pneumonitis which may be severe; treatment is mainly supportive. Ethylene and diethylene glycol poisonings produce central nervous system depression, anion gap metabolic acidosis, osmolar gap and acute tubular necrosis; in severe cases, hypocalcaemia, cerebral oedema and heart failure may be observed; treatment often associates supportive measures, haemodialysis and administration of competitive inhibitors of alcohol dehydrogenase (ethanol or 4-methylpyrazole).

Acute selenium poisoning.

Reports of acute human selenium toxicity are rare. We report 2 new cases. One patient ingested a mouthful of selenic acid (30 g/L); he only suffered mild gastrointestinal disturbances.

[Acute paracetamol and aspirin poisoning].

Liver injury is the main feature of paracetamol poisoning. Early administration of N-acetylcysteine is an effective antidotal treatment. There are also effective treatments for salicylate poisoning and severe cases are always due to delayed diagnosis.

[Acute methotrexate poisoning: apropos of 16 cases reported to the Paris Poison Control Center and review of the literature].

16 cases of acute methotrexate (MTX) poisoning were reported to the Paris Poison Control Centre and 62 others were published between 1974 and 1995. Until 1992, MTX was mainly prescribed for neoplastic diseases. Clinical features involve acute renal failure, pancytopenia, and cutaneous or mucous injury.

Four cases of amitraz poisoning in humans.

Only 7 cases of human poisoning with amitraz have been previously published and most of them are poorly documented. Four additional cases are now reported. The symptoms observed were remarkably similar in all cases: all patients experienced drowsiness; 3 presented with bradycardia, miosis and/or hyperglycemia; 2 developed hypotension and/or vomiting.

Paraquat poisoning by skin absorption: report of two cases.

Two cases of paraquat poisoning resulting from skin absorption are reported. One patient died from respiratory failure 26 d after deliberate application of the herbicide onto his whole body as a treatment for scabies. The other patient developed extensive dermatitis (probably a complication of pre-existing psoriasis).

[Acute toxicity of zidovudine. Analysis of the literature and number of cases at the Paris Poison Control Center].

13 cases of zidovudine overdosage have been previously published; 30 have been notified to Paris Control Poison Centre up to January 1991. This analysis shows that acute toxicity appears infrequent and mild when ingested dose is lower than 25 gr. However it appears from this series that an haematologic monitoring is needed because of the risk of myelosuppression.

[Acute poisoning by scilliroside].

A 43-year-old man, with no history of cardiac disease, deliberately ingested 4 tablets of a rodenticide containing 12 mg of scilliroside. Vomiting appeared a few minutes later and persisted for 48 hours. At the 20th hour, when he was admitted, EKG revealed a complete atrio-ventricular block which disappeared only on the 4th day.

[Acute toloxatone poisoning. Apropos of 122 cases].

Toloxatone is a new monoamine oxidase inhibitor. One hundred and twenty two cases of poisoning with this drug are reported. In this series, the minimal toxic dose was 2 g.

[Prolonged hypocoagulability following the ingestion of anticoagulant raticides].

Voluntary ingestion of concentrated anticoagulant rodenticides leads to prolonged hypocoagulability sometimes accompanied by haemorrhage. The authors report 11 cases referred to the Paris Anti-Poisons Centre. The products implicated were chlorophacinone, bromadiolone, and warfarin.