11 students need to be monitored for brain damage

23 students poisoned by drinking rat poison in Tuyen Quang have been discharged from Bach Mai Hospital. 11 other children are continuing to be treated and monitored for brain damage.

Brain damage that requires treatment after poisoning

This afternoon, January 27, Bach Mai Hospital ( Hanoi ) announced that among the cluster of rat poison poisoning cases, 34 students in Tuyen Quang were transferred to Bach Mai Hospital for treatment, 23 children were discharged on January 26.

Children with food poisoning who have recovered after treatment are given health care instructions by doctors before being discharged from the hospital.

Previously, on the evening of January 22, the Pediatric Center and Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi) received 32 pediatric patients, most of whom were students from grades 1 to 5 at Phu Binh Primary School, Tuyen Quang City, Tuyen Quang Province. These students mistakenly drank red "syrup", which was the rat poison fluoroacetate. On January 23, the Poison Control Center continued to receive 2 more pediatric patients, bringing the total number of pediatric patients who drank "red syrup" to kill rats and were treated at Bach Mai Hospital to 34.

After being admitted to the hospital, the children were urgently examined, evaluated, tested, had scans to check for injuries, and tested for toxins. Of the 34 children, 4 had brain injuries, 9 were at risk of seizures (on EEG results) and 13 showed signs of heart dysfunction.

After 5 days of treatment, in addition to the children who have been discharged from the hospital, 11 children have abnormalities on their EEG or have brain damage that need further treatment. On January 27-28, these children will have their brain MRI scans again to assess their health status. Children with stable results will be transferred to their local hospital or discharged with prescribed medication and a follow-up appointment.

Rat poison is highly neurotoxic and can cause heart damage and multiple organ failure.

PHOTO: BACH MAI HOSPITAL

Chemicals are very toxic to the nervous system.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center, said that the characteristics of the red liquid tube, the children's symptoms, and the available toxicology test results show that this is a case of poisoning by the rat poison fluoroacetate.

"In addition to the above chemicals, we also carefully monitor and evaluate to determine if there are any other substances causing poisoning at the same time, to avoid missing toxic chemicals," Dr. Nguyen shared.

According to the Poison Control Center, fluoroacetate is a rat poison that is usually found in small plastic or glass tubes containing pink, colorless, or brown solutions, or pink rice packets, all without labels or with labels that are completely in foreign languages.

This is a highly toxic rat poison that can cause convulsions, coma, severe brain damage, heart damage, acute myocarditis, acute heart failure, arrhythmia, cardiogenic shock, with the typical manifestation being hypocalcemia. Severe poisoning can cause damage and multiple organ failure.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chum-ca-ngo-doc-thuoc-diet-chuot-11-hoc-sinh-can-theo-doi-ton-thuong-nao-185250127192616791.htm