How safe are our children in our own homes? accidental ingestion in children: a 6 year retrospective study from a tertiary care centre

Background: According to the World Health statistics, in 2016 more than 100000 deaths were caused due to unintentional poisonings. Children are vulnerable due to their smaller body surface area, an inherent behaviour of negation, curiosity in exploring their surroundings, their initial phallic stage where they tend to put any objects they come across into their mouth.Methods: This study is a hospital based retrospective observational study where the records of all the children admitted due to poisoning, accidental or intentional from June 2012 to November 2018 were reviewed. All the children admitted due to food poisoning and idiosyncratic drug reactions were excluded from the study.Results: A total of 203 cases of accidental ingestion were admitted during the study period, of which the majority of the patients were male children. The age group varied from 5 months to 14 years. Majority of the accidental ingestions were due to kerosene (108), followed by insecticides (25) and cleaning agents (20).Conclusions: Poisoning in young children is unintentional and accidental; hence the introduction of safe child resistant containers should be encouraged in storing harmful chemicals. Knowledge about the chemicals, awareness about their hazardous effects and education of the care givers about safe storage would be the first step in the prevention of accidental ingestion. Establishment of a reporting system from all the health care centres and establishment of poison information system at all the levels is the need of the hour.

Can idiosyncratic drug reactions occur in quick succession? a case of cross sensitivity between levetiracetam and phenytoin

The occurrence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to more than one drug in quick succession can cause diagnostic dilemma to the doctor and increased burden of suffering to the patient. We present a single case report of a 23 year old female who developed rash and agranulocytosis in quick succession as ADRs to phenytoin and levetiracetam respectively. These antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were prescribed as prophylaxis against post traumatic seizures (PTS). Hence a proper rationale for the prophylactic treatment of PTS and pharmacovigilance for early detection of adverse drug reactions is the need of the hour.