Chest
Selected ReportsPersistent Asthma After Inhalation of a Mixture of Sodium Hypochlorite and Hydrochloric Acid
Section snippets
CASE REPORT
We report the case of a 39-year-old nonsmoking woman with atopy who developed persistent asthma after inhalation, for 5 min, of emanations of an untoward mixture of sodium hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid.
This patient had no preexisting respiratory complaint, but her mother suffered from allergic rhinitis owing to dust and her sister was asthmatic. She presented for 2 days with cough and wheezing, regressive with salbutamol injections. A chest x-ray film during the initial evaluation was
DISCUSSION
As far as we know, this is the first case published of asthma that persisted years after inhalation of a mixture of sodium hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid, a common domestic accident.
Subepithelial fibrosis commonly is observed in asthma.3 However, the lack of eosinophils is unusual4 and surprising, since the patient was atopic. The onset of asthma after the accident and the histologic abnormalities support irritation and caustic injuries (and not inflammation) as a primary hypothesis for
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