TOXICITY due to acetylsalicylic acid U.S.P. is now receiving the increased attention of the pediatrician. In a period of one year, following the case report of one of us (S. O. K.) and Bernstein,1 we have seen 4 additional cases of acetylsalicylic acid poisoning in the wards of the Jewish Hospital; 3 cases in the pediatric service alone, 1 of which resulted in death. This comprises a total of 5 cases, with 2 deaths, a mortality of 40 per cent.
In a review of the American literature, poisoning due to overdose of acetylsalicylic acid appears to occur so infrequently that there have been only 7 previously reported deaths.2 In direct contrast to the rarity of acetylsalicylic acid poisoning in this country were the 752 cases and 4 deaths from 1924 to 1929 reported by Balázs3 from Budapest, Hungary, and the numerous others in the British literature.
REPORT