Acute Selenium Poisoning of a 2-year-old Child

Overview

Journal Eur J Pediatr

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 1987 May 1

PMID 3595654

Authors

I Lombeck

H Menzel

D Frosch

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

After ingestion of an unknown amount of a gun blueing compound containing selenious acid (11 ml from the bottle fluid were missing, equivalent to 2.9 g Se) a 2-year-old girl suffered from continuous hyper-salivation, vomiting, diarrhoea, restlessness and muscle spasm. Blood pressure and pulse rate were increased. Symptomatic treatment was performed by parenteral fluid administration. The plasma Se concentration was increased to 20 times normal 5 h after ingestion. Erythrocyte Se exceeded plasma Se, 24 h after intoxication. Urinary Se excretion decreased parallel to the plasma Se concentration. Ten weeks later, the Se content of hair had risen to 10 times normal. The plasma glutathione peroxidase activity showed only a slight increase during the first 36 h, erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities were not significantly altered. The child fully recovered.

References

Levander O, Morris V . Dietary selenium levels needed to maintain balance in North American adults consuming self-selected diets. Am J Clin Nutr. 1984; 39(5):809-15. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/39.5.809. View

Thomson C, Burton C, Robinson M . On supplementing the selenium intake of New Zealanders. 1. Short experiments with large doses of selenite or selenomethionine. Br J Nutr. 1978; 39(3):579-87. DOI: 10.1079/bjn19780073. View

Paglia D, Valentine W . Studies on the quantitative and qualitative characterization of erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase. J Lab Clin Med. 1967; 70(1):158-69. View

FROST D, Lish P . Selenium in biology. Annu Rev Pharmacol. 1975; 15:259-84. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.pa.15.040175.001355. View

HADJIMARKOS D . Selenium: a caries-enhancing trace element. Caries Res. 1969; 3(1):14-22. DOI: 10.1159/000259587. View

AEBI H . Catalase in vitro. Methods Enzymol. 1984; 105:121-6. DOI: 10.1016/s0076-6879(84)05016-3. View

SIVJAKOV K, BRAUN H . The treatment of acute selenium, cadmium, and tungsten intoxication in rats with calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1959; 1:602-8. DOI: 10.1016/0041-008x(59)90064-x. View

WILBER C . Toxicology of selenium: a review. Clin Toxicol. 1980; 17(2):171-230. DOI: 10.3109/15563658008985076. View

Lombeck I, Kasperek K, Harbisch H, Feinendegen L, Bremer H . The selenium state of healthy children. I. Serum selenium concentration at different ages; activity of glutathione peroxidase of erythrocytes at different ages; selenium content of food of infants. Eur J Pediatr. 1977; 125(1):81-8. DOI: 10.1007/BF00470608. View

10.

Carter R . Acute selenium poisoning. Med J Aust. 1966; 1(13):525-8. DOI: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1966.tb72571.x. View

11.

Glover J . Selenium in human urine: a tentative maximum allowable concentration for industrial and rural populations. Ann Occup Hyg. 1967; 10(1):3-14. DOI: 10.1093/annhyg/10.1.3. View

12.

Sunde R, Gutzke G, Hoekstra W . Effect of dietary methionine on the biopotency of selenite and selenomethionine in the rat. J Nutr. 1981; 111(1):76-88. DOI: 10.1093/jn/111.1.76. View

13.

Civil I, McDonald M . Acute selenium poisoning: case report. N Z Med J. 1978; 87(612):354-6. View

14.

Winterbourn C, Hawkins R, Brian M, Carrell R . The estimation of red cell superoxide dismutase activity. J Lab Clin Med. 1975; 85(2):337-41. View

15.

Flohe L, Gunzler W . Assays of glutathione peroxidase. Methods Enzymol. 1984; 105:114-21. DOI: 10.1016/s0076-6879(84)05015-1. View

16.

McCONNELL K, PORTMAN O . Toxicity of dimethyl selenide in the rat and mouse. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1952; 79(2):230-1. DOI: 10.3181/00379727-79-19333. View

17.

Baptista R, Bistrian B, Blackburn G, Miller D, Champagne C, Buchanan L . Utilizing selenious acid to reverse selenium deficiency in total parenteral nutrition patients. Am J Clin Nutr. 1984; 39(5):816-20. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/39.5.816. View

18.

Yang G, Wang S, Zhou R, Sun S . Endemic selenium intoxication of humans in China. Am J Clin Nutr. 1983; 37(5):872-81. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/37.5.872. View

19.

Hatch R, Clark J, Jain A, Mahaffey E . Treatment of induced acute selenosis in rats and weanling pigs. Am J Vet Res. 1979; 40(12):1808-11. View

20.

Norppa H, Westermarck T, Laasonen M, Knuutila L, Knuutila S . Chromosomal effects of sodium selenite in vivo. I. Aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges in human lymphocytes. Hereditas. 1980; 93(1):93-6. View