Clinical case of deadly poisoning with flammable fluid used to accelerate the ignition of charcoal in a barbecue grill in a two years old boy

Abstract

Clinical case observation of a deadly poisoning with flammable fluid used to accelerate the ignition of charcoal in a barbecue grill in a two years old boy and a brief bibliographical overview dedicated to it are presented in the Article. Unfortunate poisonings by hydrocarbons that are products of oil refining are common Worldwide, mainly among the children under 5 years old. Flammable fluid used to accelerate the ignition of charcoal in a barbecue grill, which is a mixture of extreme hydrocarbons, is not an uncommon cause of children poisoning in Russia though. A two years old boy was hospitalized in the ICU of regional children’s hospital just some 2 hours after ingesting the flammable fluid; cough was noted; there was no vomiting. 3 hours after the admission, the body temperature increased, the clinical picture of respiratory failure and depression syndrome had developed. During the intensive care, which included non-invasive respiratory support, infusion and antibacterial therapy, there was an improvement in the patient’s condition noted, which after 7 hours was replaced by a sharp increase in respiratory failure, which in its turn had required intubation and ventilation. The condition was not stable the following several days, hemodynamic disorders, DIC syndrome were noted. 3 weeks after initial admission a pneumothorax clinical picture had developed with extensive both-sided pneumatocele detected in RCT. The fatal outcome occurred on the 28th day when increasing symptoms of multiple organ failure was recorded. The presented case demonstrates the extreme severity of lung damage with massive destruction coupled with bacterial pneumonia.