# \[e-drug\] Paracetamol poisoning **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [September 20, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-paracetamol-poisoning/14956 "2002-09-20T00:10:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@bev](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/bev)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-paracetamol-poisoning/14956/1 "2002-09-20T00:10:29Z")
E-drug: Paracetamol poisoning --------------------------------------------- In response to Peter Lurie's contribution concerning dangers with paracetamol (acetaminophen in USA) I am sharing these training notes we have used for health workers in community heath centres in Victoria, Australia. The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) statistics indicate that paracetamol syrup is responsible for most poisoning admissions in the hospital. Children usually find the syrup bottle themselves, and drink straight from the bottle. In consultation with people from the RCH, we devised the following training for health workers. Paracetamol: Overdose - 1g in a 1 yr old a serious overdose One 100 mL bottle of 120 mg/ 5 mL syrup contains 2.4g paracetamol. 1/3 bottle = overdose for a 1 yr old. More would be more serious in a one year old child The whole bottle would be an overdose for a much older child. The maximum dose for a 25 kg child would be 1g. Policy: Repack bigger bottles into bottles that contain only 30 mL of the syrup. Child resistant caps will always be used. Each time paracetamol is supplied to a mother, she should be warned of the dangers to children and reminded that it should be kept out of reach of children. Paracetamol syrup should be dispensed only in enough quantity for the immediate needs of a child. Several bottles for ongoing use must not be supplied. -- Beverley Snell Centre for International Health Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research & Public Health GPO Box 2284, Melbourne 3001 Australia Telephone 613 9282 2115 / 9282 2275 Fax 61 3 9282 2144 or 9282 2100 email \