Methamphetamine Exposure Presenting as Caustic Ingestions in Children
Presented orally at the Helfer Society annual meeting, October 2005, New Paltz, NY.
Received 17 March 2006; received in revised form 4 May 2006; accepted 23 May 2006. published online 30 June 2006.
With the growing prevalence of methamphetamine use and production in home laboratories, children are at risk for injuries resulting from living in a drug-endangered environment. Although the ingestion of household cleaners is usually accidental and not a result of illicit drug use or production, medical providers must be aware of the chemicals associated with methamphetamine and illicit drug production to identify patients harmed in this environment. We present the first reported cases of children harmed by ingesting caustic substances used in the production of methamphetamine in the home.
aDepartment of Pediatrics, Section of Children at Risk (Farst)
eSection of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (James), University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, AR
Address for correspondence: Karen Farst, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Team for Children at Risk, 800 Marshall St, Slot 512-24A, Little Rock, AR 72202; 501-364-2650, fax 501-364-3939.
Supervising editor: Richard C. Dart, MD, PhD
Funding and support: The authors report this study did not receive any outside funding or support.
ABSTRACT