Acute phenol poisoning.

Cases of phenol (C6 H.5 OH) poisoning were more frequent in the past than they are today. Approximately 50% of those reported have terminated fatally. An oral dose of 1 g. phenol may be lethal to man, although it has been recorded that patients have survived the ingestion of 65 g. (Kobert, 1906). The following cases have been reported: Severe acute intoxication occurred in a 3-year-old child, whose scalp was treated accidentally with pure phenol instead of a dilute solution. The mistake was discovered four minutes after application, when the child became unconscious (Brown, 1895). A nurse, whose thumb and index finger were contaminated with pure phenol, accidentally touched the groin of a 7-day-old infant, leaving two patches, one the size of a sixpence and the other of a halfcrown. Severe convulsions were observed within five minutes, ending fatally 10 hours later (Abrahams, 1900). A 13-year-old girl accidentally poured pure phenol over the scalp and cheek; she died within two hours (Gibson, 1905). A man accidentally broke a bottle of dilute phenol in his pocket. The contents ran down his thighs, and he showed signs of systemic intoxication within five minutes. The toxaemia was characterized by severe cyanosis, stertorous breathing, vomiting, coma, the abolition of reflexes, pin-point pupils, and lowering of body temperature (Turtle and Dolan, 1922).