RESUMEN
The accidental intoxications constitute more and more a serious problem among young children in the developing countries because of their frequency and difficulties for taking care of those victims. The objective of our work was to study acute intoxications among children in order to determine the frequency, to identify the products in question and to determine the impact of those accidents in the future life of the victims. The study was carried out in the Paediatric Service of the CHU Gabriel Touré from January 2001 to June 2002. We enrolled 89 children from 0 to 15 years of age. Information on our patients was recorded on investigational questionnaire and completed with data from their entry and hospitalization records. Among 8237 children hospitalized during the study period, 89 of them had acute intoxication i.e. 1.08%. Children less than five years of age were more frequent with 85.4% with a male prevalence of 61.8%. Antimalarial drugs and petroleum were the most accused products. Administration of milk and provoked vomiting were the attitudes and practices of the entourage of the victims when intoxication occurs. The evolution was favourable in 67.2% of the cases with a hospital lethality of 13.7%.