Background: Childhood poisoning covers the entire gamut from accidental ingestion in toddlers and preschool children to intentional overdosage in adolescents. The poisons range from fuel to drugs and other chemicals. Objective: To determine the epidemiology, clinical profile, and outcome of children presenting with acute poisoning in a tertiary care center in south India. Materials and Methods: All patients from the age of 1 month to 18 years, admitted during the 1-year study period with a history of poisoning, were included. Animalbites, snake, and scorpion envenomation were excluded. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 16. A multivariate analysis was also done and a p<0.05 was considerer significant. Results: There were 75 cases of poisoning out of the total 4074 admissions. Accidental poisoning constituted 73.3% cases and the remaining 26.7% were suicidal. In most of the cases, poisoning was due to fuel (28%) or drugs (21.3%), and kerosene oil was the most common causative substance (28.0%) followed by camphor (14.7%). The higher incidence of poisoning was found in lower middle socio-economic class (56.0%). An analysis of the outcome showed that92.0% were discharged home, 4.0% with sequelae, and death in 4.0% cases. Conclusion: The highest incidence of poisoning was observed in the lower middle socio-economic group. Most of the poisons were household products, and the most common nature of exposure was accidental. In most of the cases, recovery was complete.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis should be considered in differential diagnosis of mediastinal mass in infants.

Hepatitis A (HAV) infection is one of the most common forms of hepatitis in the paediatric age group in developing countries. It is usually self-limiting and rarely accompanied by extra hepatic complication. In this article, we report two children with hepatitis A who had associated issues of pleural effusion and ascites. Both issues improved with resolution of hepatitis after symptomatic treatment. Although uncommon, extra hepatic manifestations can occur with hepatitis A. However, they resolve completely. Paediatricians in developing countries should be aware of this rare association to avoid unnecessary investigations.

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Background: Status Epilepticus is a major medical and neurological emergency. Despite advance in treatment, it is still associated with mortality and morbidity. The objective of the study was to estimate the profile of status epilepticus on clinical features, lab parameters and outcome of the children admitted in pediatric intensive care.Methods: Children between 1 month to 18 years who were fulfilling the definition of status epilepticus and who were admitted in PICU in Sri Ramachandra Medical Center were included in the study. All the children who met inclusion criteria were taken for the study. history and physical examination was done for all the children with blood samples, CSF samples, urine sample, computerized tomography scan, EEG details were collected after getting informed consent.Results: Among 50 children 60% were in the age group were less than 5 years ,22% were between 6-10 years ,14% were between 11-15 years and 4% were above 16 yrs. The mean age group was 5.74 years (SD±4.75). Incidence was higher in males (54%) when compared to females (46%). Forty-seven children (94%) were brought to casualty with status epilepticus whereas three children developed SE in hospital. CSF study was done among 19 (38%) of the children in which CSF was found normal among 16(84%). CT scan/MRI brain findings were abnormal in (34%) and normal in 10 (66%) patients. Epilepsy was the most common diagnosis noted in 29 (58%) patients and febrile seizure was second common etiology noted in 12 (24%) in this series. In this series 47 (94%) patients were treated and discharged home, 2 (4%) patients died and one patient went against medical advice without follow up.Conclusions: Status epilepticus is one of the common neurological emergency which requires admission to PICU. In our study epilepsy is one of the most common causes of status epilepticus. Early and appropriate treatment with anticonvulsants and use of mechanical ventilation may improve the outcome.