Acute poisoning--a review of 1900 cases

A review of nineteen hundred cases of acute poisoning admitted to the Intensive Care Unit shows that poisoning was responsible for 40% of the emergencies treated at this Unit, between 15th January, 1976 to 15th November, 1985. Comparing our data with Western figures, it was noted that the pattern of poisoning in our Country is considerably different from that in the West. Organophosphorus insecticide Poisoning was by far the commonest in our series and was responsible for the majority of fatal cases. Over-all mortality rate for all the other poisons excluding Organophosphorus Insecticide compared favourably with Western figures, being 1.8%.