2024-05-03 15:00:18
03 May 2024
Accidental ingestion of alcohol by a child can have dramatic consequences. Illustration in Italy where, at just 4 months old, a baby, victim of alcohol poisoning, suffered an alcoholic coma. He could present irreversible neurological sequelae.
A 4-month-old baby was hospitalized in southern Italy with symptoms of an alcoholic coma. The facts were reported in an article in the Italian newspaper The Republicspotted by The Parisian. In question, what appears to be an error on the part of the child’s grandmother. She prepared her bottle with white wine instead of water, to dilute the powdered milk. The infant was taken by his grandmother to the Perrino hospital in Brindisi (Apulia) where he was treated in pediatrics for serious poisoning. According to information reported by the Italian daily, it was a domestic accident.
The child would have absorbed part of the preparation before refusing to continue drinking. On Monday April 29, the baby underwent gastric lavage before being intubated and transferred to intensive care at the Bari pediatric hospital. His condition was then stable but, at only 4 months, the prognosis remains guarded.
Intoxication from a sip of alcohol
In children, poisoning is the second cause of everyday accidents after trauma, notes Ameli.fr. And alcohol is extremely harmful for them. “A sip of ‘Grand Marnier’ for example can already be the cause of alcohol poisoning in a 10 kilo child”, illustrates the Belgian poison control center. The average weight of a 4 month old baby is only 6 or 7 kilos.
The severity of the intoxication will depend on the age and weight of the child, the quantity of alcohol ingested and the alcohol content of the drink. If poisoning is proven, the little victim will have to be hospitalized.
“Alcohol passes through the esophagus, stomach and small intestine and enters the bloodstream. It affects different parts of the body, such as the brain, causing a feeling of ‘floating’. continues the poison control center.
The risk of neurological sequelae
According to a 2007 note from the French Society of Emergency Medicine, “three complications are particularly to be feared in children: metabolic acidosis and hypothermia are frequent and correlated with ethanolemia; hypoglycemia is rare. More “in fasting children, it is to be feared” and can then “lead to coma, convulsions and neurological sequelae”. Indeed, we now know that alcohol has a deleterious effect on brain development until it has completed its maturation, at the end of adolescence. The damage may be irreversible.
To note : for moderate poisoning in a young child, it is advisable to give them 3 to 4 sugars diluted in half a glass of water and to watch for the appearance of signs of inebriation or drowsiness.
Source: La Repubblica, Ameli.fr, centreantipoisons.be, French Society of Emergency Medicine
Written by: Dorothée Duchemin – Edited by Emmanuel Ducreuzet
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