Excessive ingestion of salt is a well-recognized cause of hypernatraemia in children, is uncommonly recognized in debilitated elderly persons, but is rarely diagnosed in healthy, independent adults. We report a case of fatal salt poisoning in a 20-year-old lady who suffered of post-natal depression and ingested large quantities of salt as part of exorcism ritual. She presented with the highest ...

Electrolyte disorders are among the most frequent and challenging problems facing the admitting physician and many have serious prognostic significance1. Early and informed intervention is necessary, but the outcome may be disappointing. Hyponatraemia with serum sodium below 130 mmol/l occurs in 3–5% of hospital admissions2 and death rates vary from 11–70%3. In patients with hypernatraemia with...

The death certificates and necropsy reports of the 1115 Sheffield infants who died under 2 years of age in 1969-78 were examined. This study showed the apparent disappearance of deaths with hypernatraemia and in particular deaths presenting as cot deaths. The fall in incidence may be as much the result of an intensive local campaign on child care and infant feeding as of the change in the compo...

29 definite intracranial haemorrhages and 4 suspected ones occurred during a 25-month period during which 10 072 live infants were born. There were 4 subdural haemorrhages (all fatal), 4 isolated subarachnoid haemorrhages (2 fatal), and 21 intraventricular haemorrhages (all fatal--2 beyond the neonatal period). There was no evidence of a causal relation between intraventricular haemorrhage and ...

Gangrene of the extremities complicating diarrhoea and severe hypernatraemic dehydration occurred in 6 infants. This is a rare complication of gastroenteritis, and its association with hypernatraemia does not seem to have previously been emphasized. The increased blood viscosity resulting from serum hyperosmolarity may have been responsible for the gangrene, and studies in our patients suggeste...