IRON POISONING - A PREVENTABLE HAZARD OF CHILDHOOD

  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 67  (17) , 680-683
Abstract
The records of all patients with poisoning due to excessive Fe ingestion admitted to a children''s hospital during a 7 1/2 yr period were retrospectively studied. There were 80 such children, aged between 0.6 and 3.93 yr. Almost half were severely poisoned. Most children took Fe tablets intended for their mothers or aunts as a supplement during pregnancy. These were packed in easy-to-open plastic packets. Estimates of the number of tablets taken were unreliable. All 29 children who received parenteral desferrioxamine on presentation survived, whereas 3 of the 51 children in whom desferrioxamine therapy was delayed died. Late morbidity from brain damage and intestinal strictures was not assessed. Many cases of Fe poisoning in childhood could be prevented by strip packaging of Fe tablets. Parenteral desferrioxamine should be given without delay whenever a child is suspected of having swallowed excessive Fe tablets.

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