Many children hospitalized for severe lead poisoning after being treated with 'black' medicine
(Baonghean.vn) - Recently, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital has received many children from 1 month to 6 months old with severe lead poisoning; some children have a serious prognosis, threatening their vital functions... The cause stems from families using "black" medicine to help children stop crying, gain weight, and grow quickly.
NTDL (4 months old, in Hung Nguyen district) had a cough, wheezing, and played little. Listening to someone else’s advice, his family bought “den” medicine near home in tablet form and gave it to him for 7 days.
After taking the medicine, NTDL's condition not only did not improve but also got worse. He stopped breastfeeding, his skin was pale, and he vomited. He was taken to Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital when his condition was severe, with multiple convulsions and coma.
To save the child, doctors had to intubate, use a ventilator, perform intensive resuscitation, and measure the lead level in the blood to 216 µg/dL (acceptable threshold is below 5 µg/dL)... Currently, after nearly 1 week of treatment at the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department, the child's health condition is still very serious.
Similar is the case of PNKD (3 months old in Nghi Xuan district, Ha Tinh province), admitted to the hospital on February 11. The family saw that the child was fussy and cried a lot, and did not play much, so they bought "den" medicine to dilute and give it to him to drink.
After taking the medicine, PNKD showed many strange symptoms: stopped breastfeeding, pale skin, convulsions all over the body... She was hospitalized and treated at the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department.
Test results showed that the child was severely anemic, had elevated liver enzymes, and blood lead levels showed severe lead poisoning of 217.2 µg/dL. The child is currently receiving continued care and intensive treatment.
Doctors advise: Lead is a very toxic substance to health, causing damage to many organs such as the nervous system, bones, hematological system, blood, liver, kidneys, digestive system, cardiovascular system, etc. When entering the body, lead can accumulate for a long time in internal organs, especially bones, and takes decades to be eliminated.
Parents should be alert and trust in scientific treatment methods with standard regimens that have been medically proven. Parents should absolutely not listen to or follow unverified word-of-mouth methods or arbitrarily use drugs - especially orange medicine, herbal medicine of unknown origin, without a circulation license to protect children's health./.
