Accidental Poisoning with the Antihistamine Drug "Histantin"

Professor Hewer. I will ask Dr. Apley, who looked after this child, to give us the finical history. i PrJohn Apley. Let me first tell you about the family of this little girl, an only ?hild, who died in hospital three days before her first birthday. The father is a man in ftls early thirties, who owns a shop. The mother is a kind and pleasant woman of some ^venty years of age. They live in a small house over the shop. Mother has a mild ton. disorder for which, unfortunately, as events will show, she was taking anti^lstamine tablets ("Histantin"). She came into the room where Jane had been left playing one day and found her eating some tablets. Mother thinks that nine were swallowed in all. The child was Seen by a doctor about one hour later. There had been no vomiting and Jane seemed ^VeU, so the doctor advised that she be taken home to rest. Fifteen minutes later she started to vomit and had generalised convulsions. She was immediately taken to the local hospital where her stomach was washed out . ltn bicarbonate of soda solution, approximately one-and-three-quarters hour after lrigestion of the tablets. While this was proceeding the doctor telephoned me. With a jecent previous experience of such a case (a child who also died despite treatment) advised that Jane should be brought into hospital immediately. The journey was A?ng one and she arrived in hospital some four hours after swallowing the tablets. On admission she was slightly cyanosed and generalised muscular twitching was een. Her temperature was ioo-8?. The heart rate varied between 80 and 170 and was regular (presumably owing to the so-called quinidine effect of the drug). Moist 0lJnds were heard all over the lungs, an ominous sign which carries a very grave Pr?gnosis in this condition.