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Ehylene glycol and related poisoning kills hundreds before correct diagnosis being recognized

2009-03-10T16:16:00Z

Source for the following info -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diethylene_glycol

Here is the article -

....In recent years, deaths from medicines adulterated with diethylene glycol have been reported from South Africa, India, Nigeria, Argentina, Haiti,^[6] Bangladesh^[7] and Panama.^[8] In Haiti in 1996, 85 children died due to glycerine contaminated with diethylene glycol in a paracetamol syrup produced by Pharval Laboratories, a Haitian company, which did not use standard quality assurance procedures to verify the purity of the glycerine. The glycerine supplied by a Dutch company, Vos, from a manufacturer in China, but the point of contamination with DEG was never determined. In Bangladesh in 1990, 339 children developed kidney failure, and most of them died, after being given paracetamol (acetaminophen) syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol. In October 2006 the CDC and the Ministry of Health of Panama detected toxic levels of diethylene glycol in a sugarless liquid expectorant during an investigation of 46 deaths from a syndrome characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms, renal failure and paralysis. Almost all the victims were hypertension and diabetes patients in their 40s to 80s. The source of the contamination was found to be the Taixing Glycerine Factory, a Chinese company in Hengxiang, China. Taixing Glycerine sold diethylene glycol labeled as TD glycerine, which is an industrial name, through the state-owned Chinese trading company CNSC Fortune Way, based in Beijing. A Spanish middleman ordered these as TD glycerine, but when filled the custom declaration the name was changed to glycerine.^[9]^[10] A government agency in Panama purchased the falsely labeled product containing diethylene glycol and incorporated it into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine.^[11] The United States Food and Drug Administration issued an Industry Guidance Document highlighting .....

Just to empahsize that ethlene glycol poisoning is very common world wide and I believe a smart doctor would have diagnosed the disorder much earlier before hundreds died if they had focused on the full ABG report in a critically ill patient.

You be the smart one and read all ABG reports as we recommend in Arterial Blood Gas Analysis Made Easy ISBN 0965708373.

A husband Dies an unatural death. Another one died a few years ago!

2009-03-10T15:59:00Z

..... Frist initially ruled the cause of death as heart failure.

It was only after he learned that another man romantically linked to the defendant had died under similar circumstances in 2001 that he became concerned about the validity of his initial findings and ordered Turner's body exhumed.

New tests showed that Turner had ethylene glycol in his system, and Frist changed the cause of death to homicide by ethylene glycol toxicity ..............

More details at this link:

http://www.courttv.com/trials/turner/051004_ctv.html

Here is an example of correct diagnosis being missed in a patient I believe as the full ABG report was not read. If they focues on anion gap and somolal gap in addition to kidney failure may be these lives could be saved.

A nurse's husband died and on autopsy was found to have oxlate crystals in the tissue.

One of her previous husnad who had died a few years ago. His body was exumed and was alsofound to have a lot of oxlate crystals in the kidneys.

Kidney failure causes anion gap meatbolic acidosis (remember from DARLINGS ARE IMPortant from ABG Analysis Made Easy ISBN 0965708373 or from mudpiles). However as we stress in the book in all cases of metabolic acidosis also calulate anion gap and osmolal gap. Here is how it can save a life.

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Comment on the following blood gas in an asthmatic.

2009-01-27T18:34:00Z

Comment on the following blood gas in an asthmatic.

7.40/40/86

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2009-01-26T19:23:35Z

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