Poisons centre will monitor cases

BMJ 1995;311:871 (30 September)

Letters

Poisons centre will monitor cases

EDITOR,--Jean-Paul Yih's concern about the identification andmanagement of injuries to the eye caused by O-chlorobenzylidinemalononitrile (CS) gas¹ is reflected by the number of inquiriesabout such injuries received by the National Poisons InformationService (London). In 1994, 354 emergency inquiries about CSgas were received from health care professionals throughoutBritain.

In some circumstances differential diagnosis of the chemicalis easy, but a recent inquiry to the service concerned an incidentin which the ambulance crew had assumed that lacrimation wasdue to CS gas. In fact, the exposure had been to ammonia, andthe initial management had therefore been inappropriate as thepatient had not been decontaminated immediately. Ammonia ispotentially more toxic than CS gas and can cause long term oculardamage.²

In most circumstances only short term health effects are associatedwith exposure to CS gas, but experience at the National PoisonsInformation Service (London) . . . [Full text of this article]

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