News as of May 31, 2012

Epitox Bulletin No. 3 (April 2012) from the Toxicovigilance and Poisoning Surveillance Network: Between January 1 and December 31, 2011, the CAPTVs recorded 189,890 cases of exposure, of which 70,540 presented clinical signs; 31% of symptomatic cases (n=21,092) involved drug poisoning; 19% of symptomatic cases (n=13,172) were associated with the use of household products. The 0–4 age group accounted for 24% of poisoning cases with symptoms (n=16,304). In terms of geographic distribution, the Île-de-France region accounted for 17% of exposed individuals, followed by the Rhône-Alpes region (11%) and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region (10%). These three regions alone account for more than one-third of exposure cases in France.

• Allergies: sustained activity over the past 2 weeks

• Asthma: moderate to sustained activity

• Gastroenteritis: low activity

• Activity in private practice and hospital emergency departments