nitrogen-dioxide and Gas-Poisoning

A 40-year-old male tried to clean a urinal at his home storing 900 mL of a toilet cleaner containing 9.8% nitric acid to remove calcium deposit, and clean the toilet floor for twenty minutes. Immediately after using the cleaner, he experienced eye irritation. He washed out the toilet cleaner. However, he thereafter experienced dyspnea, a compressive sensation in his chest, and chest and back pain about 40 minutes after the cleaning the toilet. He monitored his symptoms overnight and found them to gradually improve. However, the symptoms still remained the next morning and therefore he came to our department on foot. He had no particular past or family history. On arrival, his physiological findings and chest computed tomography scan were negative for any abnormalities. His arterial blood gas analysis revealed a mild abnormality of oxygenation. Observation without any drugs revealed that a complete remission of his symptoms occurred after approximately 4 weeks. Based on the results of the experiments, contact with the mucosal membrane and nitric acid gas produced by any accidentally coexisting metals or contact with moisture, including nitric acid produced by a reaction between CaCO3 and cleaner, may have been the mechanism of occurrence for the symptoms observed in this case. This is the first reported case of nitric acid poisoning due to the use of a toilet cleanser intended for household use.

Topics: Adult; Detergents; Dyspnea; Gas Poisoning; Household Products; Humans; Male; Nitric Acid; Nitrogen Dioxide

Toxic silo gases are a potential danger to livestock housed in close proximity to roughage silos. These gases, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), may be produced during the early stages of (maize and grass) silage making. In humans, inhalation of these gases causes a condition known as 'Silo Filler's Disease' (SFD), which is a recognized occupational hazard for workers in upright forage silos in many countries. NO2 accumulates on top of silage, is inhaled by workers, and reacts with water on the airway surfaces to form nitrous acid, which damages the lung and causes pulmonary oedema, bronchiolitis, and death in severe cases. On a dairy farm, a cloud of reddish-brown NO2 gas (which is heavier than air) was noticed to escape from underneath the plastic sheet of a horizontal maize bunker and to enter a cubicle house for dairy cows 1 day after ensiling. Eleven cows became dyspnoeic, 3 of which subsequently died. A combination of weather conditions, an insufficient sand load on the maize bunker, the utilization of a lactobacillus starter culture, and the close proximity of the silo to the cubicle house may have caused the incident.

Topics: Agriculture; Animals; Cattle; Cattle Diseases; Female; Food Handling; Gas Poisoning; Humans; Nitrogen Dioxide; Silage; Silo Filler's Disease

Topics: Animals; Cattle; Cattle Diseases; Female; Gas Poisoning; Nitrogen Dioxide; Nitrogen Oxides; Silage

Toxic silo gases are a potential danger to livestock housed in close proximity to silos. On the fourth day of ensiling, five fattening pigs were found dead in a pen adjoining a grass silo. Post mortem examination revealed extensive lung damage and methaemoglobinaemia. A dense reddish-brown gas was concentrated at floor level to a height of 1 m in the pen and had diffused into adjoining pens, where dry and suckling sows and litters were showing signs of respiratory distress and weakness. The gas was identified as a mixture of nitrogen dioxide and dinitrogen tetroxide. These gases may be produced in the early stages of silage making. In this case, they had accumulated in a slurry channel below the silo and leaked through an adjoining wall into the piggery. The production and toxicological effects of silo gases are discussed.

Topics: Animals; Female; Gas Poisoning; Male; Nitrogen Dioxide; Silage; Swine; Swine Diseases

Topics: Ammonia; Animals; Blood Proteins; Carbohydrate Metabolism; Environmental Exposure; Gas Poisoning; Guinea Pigs; Lipid Metabolism; Male; Nitrogen Dioxide; Occupational Diseases; Sulfur Dioxide

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Carbon Dioxide; Cattle; Cattle Diseases; Gas Poisoning; Housing, Animal; Humans; Male; Nitrogen Dioxide; Nitrous Oxide; Silage; Ventilation

Topics: Adult; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Autoimmune Diseases; Blood Viscosity; Capillaries; Cell Membrane; Fibrin; Gas Poisoning; Glucocorticoids; Humans; Hypoxia; Male; Nitrogen Dioxide; Pulmonary Edema; Shock

Topics: Adult; Chemical Industry; Gas Poisoning; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nitrogen; Nitrogen Dioxide; Occupational Diseases; Oxides; Welding

Topics: Ammonia; Chlorine; Gas Poisoning; Humans; Nitrates; Nitrogen Dioxide; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Medicine

Topics: Aerosols; Animals; Coal Mining; Collagen; Dust; Environmental Exposure; Gas Poisoning; Lung; Lung Diseases; Microscopy, Electron; Nitrogen Dioxide; Pneumoconiosis; Rats; Time Factors

Topics: Accidents; Adolescent; Cellulose; Female; Fires; Gas Poisoning; Glucocorticoids; Humans; Lung; Lung Diseases; Nitrogen Dioxide

Topics: Adolescent; Cellulose; Cerebral Palsy; Female; Fires; Gas Poisoning; Humans; Lung; Lung Diseases; Models, Structural; Nitro Compounds; Nitrogen; Nitrogen Dioxide; Nitrogen Oxides; Peroxides; Radiography, Thoracic

Topics: Agricultural Workers' Diseases; Ambroxol; Dust; Farmer's Lung; Gas Poisoning; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Lung Diseases; Nitrogen; Nitrogen Dioxide; Oxygen Inhalation Therapy; Oxytetracycline; Pathology; Penicillins; Pneumonia; Radiography, Thoracic; Silo Filler's Disease; Toxicology; Tuberculin Test

Topics: Agriculture; Air Pollutants; Gas Poisoning; Mice; Nitrogen Dioxide; Nitroso Compounds; Occupational Diseases; Research; Toxicology

Topics: Gas Poisoning; Humans; Irritants; Medical Records; Nitrates; Nitrogen Dioxide; Occupational Diseases