Citation

Martínez-Navarrete J, Loria-Castellanos J, Nava-Ocampo AA. Acta Biomed. Ateneo Parmense 2008; 79(1): 36-38.

Affiliation

Diplomado de Toxicología Clinica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sede Hospital de Pediatria del Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI-IMSS, México DF, México.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Societa di Medicina e scienze naturali di Parma)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

18551820

Abstract

We present a 1.5-year old, 11 kg, female infant with a history of bronchial hyper-responsiveness who accidentally ingested half of a "Chinese chalk", [active ingredient, the insecticide deltamethrin, illegal in many nations]. A day later, the infant showed vomiting, cough, fever, drowsiness, and irritability and her clinical conditions progressively worsened. She was admitted to the emergency department with cough, respiratory distress, and hepatomegaly. It has been reported that the chalk may contain deltamethrin and cypermethrin. The patient was successfully treated with supportive therapy. This report identifies "Chinese chalk" as a potential source of accidental poisoning in children and should be considered as part of the differential diagnoses in the emergency rooms since poisoning with these compounds may be misdiagnosed as organophosphate poisoning due to the presentation of similar symptoms.

Language: en