title: Death following accidental sodium azide ingestion.
abstract: Two college students developed symptoms of poisoning following ingestion of a salt solution during a college physiology laboratory exercise. Symptoms included nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and altered consciousness. The ingested solution was identified as isotonic buffered saline containing sodium azide in a concentration of 1.0 g/L. The solution was commercially prepared for instrumentation use only and was used inadvertently for the exercise instead of freshly preparing sodium chloride in water. One student drank three sips of the solution and survived. The other student drank 700 to 800 mL and over several days became progressively ill, suffering myocardial damage and cardiac dysrhythmias, and, finally, died. Toxicologic studies confirmed the presence of azide in an antemortem urine sample from the deceased. Sodium azide is an uncommon but potent poison which can cause serious illness and death.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Skogerboe
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Case
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Raisys
authors.forename: E Q
authors.initials: EQ
authors.lastname: Lacsina
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D000328:Adult; D001386:Azides / Q000506:poisoning* / Q000652:urine; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000139:chemically induced*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents / Q000506:poisoning; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D019810:Sodium Azide
chemical_list: D001386:Azides; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D019810:Sodium Azide