Ecstasy inquiries included 6 babies

SIX inquiries about the ingestion of ecstasy by babies and toddlers have been made to the National Poisons Information Centre (NPIC).

The centre, based at Beaumont Hospital, received 286 inquiries regarding ecstasy poisoning from 2004-2007.

“Six of these inquiries concerned suspected ecstasy ingestion in children aged three years or less,” the centre points out in a letter published in the latest issue of the Irish Medical Journal.

All the children were successfully treated with supportive therapy that included cooling and hydration.

One of the children was a two-year-old boy who had ingested an unknown amount of ecstasy and developed irrational behaviour, facial flushing and stiffness of the extremities.

When he was examined in hospital he had dilated pupils and a significantly increased heart rate of 190 beats per minute. He recovered fully following treatment.

The centre points out that airway protection, seizure control, correction of metabolic disturbances and cooling measures are the mainstay of treatment following an ecstasy overdose.

It warns that ecstasy tablets are often very colourful and may be particularly attractive to young children.

“Because of their lower body weight and differences in metabolism and excretion, children are at risk of poisoning from doses of drugs that an adult might usually tolerate,” it says.

In paediatric cases, the most appropriate gastrointestinal decontamination procedure is activated charcoal, if it can be given within one hour.

Ecstasy toxicity is unpredictable, even in adults, and there is a wide variation in how different individuals tolerate the drug.