No abstract

Domestic superglue (cyanoacrylate) in the hands of children can have devastating consequences, especially when cotton clothing is involved. When cotton comes into contact with cyanoacrylate an intense exothermic reaction occurs, creating temperatures high enough to cause significant thermal injury. A literature review found 16 such cases of burns documented (2 adult, 14 pediatric). This article presents a case report of a 4-year-old child sustaining a full thickness burn injury to her leg requiring skin grafting when superglue was spilt onto cotton pants. She was sitting near a fan heater at the time. An experiment was conducted to replicate the exothermic reaction between superglue and cotton, and to determine if the addition of radiant heat would have any significant effect. The maximum temperature reached with one 3-gram tube of superglue onto cotton pyjamas was 91⁰C (196⁰F) and occurred approximately 90 seconds post application. It took more than 3 minutes for the temperature to cool below 40⁰C (104⁰F). The addition of radiant heat from a fan heater placed 60cm from the clothing found that the temperature peak was similarly reached and cooled, but the temperature did not reduce below 52⁰C (126⁰F) for over 20 minutes, proving that potential harm may be amplified if first aid is not appropriately sought.Product labelling and the knowledge of potential harm from such mechanism of injury remains inadequate. It is hoped that the reporting of this case contributes to an increase in public education and awareness of such dangers and may contribute to preventing avoidable future incidences.

Background Paediatric burns are preventable injuries that can have a permanent impact on a child's health and wellbeing. The Burns Unit at the Children's Hospital at Westmead appeared to experience an increase in paediatric burn injury referrals during the school holidays. The evaluation of the characteristics of burn injuries in the school holidays compared to the school term may improve the effectiveness of burn prevention programmes. Methods A retrospective review was performed of all school‐aged children who were referred to our institution between January 2005 and January 2019. Patient details, burn aetiology, burn severity, length of stay and need for grafting were compared between burns sustained during the school holidays and burns sustained during school term. Results A total of 3020 children were referred to Children's Hospital at Westmead between January 2005 and January 2019. The mean number of burns sustained increased from 3.8 children per week during the school term to 5.4 children per week during school holidays (P < 0.0001). Contact burns were proportionally more common during school holidays than during the school term (26% versus 19.7%, P < 0.0001), whilst the proportion of scalds decreased significantly during the school holidays (43.5 versus 51.4%, P < 0.0001). There was no difference between mean age, % total body surface area, admission rates, length of stay or skin grafting rates. Conclusion There is a significant increase in burn injuries among school‐aged children during the school holidays. This highlights the need for targeted education and prevention campaigns in the periods immediately preceding the school holidays.

No abstract