Di. Wilson et Fb. Bailie, PETROL - SOMETHING NASTY IN THE WOODSHED - A REVIEW OF GASOLINE-RELATED BURNS IN A BRITISH BURNS UNIT, Burns, 21(7), 1995, pp. 539-541
Citations number
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Categorie Soggetti
Dermatology & Venereal Diseases","Emergency Medicine & Critical Care
Petrol (gasoline) is probably the fuel most easily available and widel
y in use today. Indeed, most households have a can lurking in the gard
en shed or basement For domestic we. it's chemical properties make it
a highly explosive as well as a combustible Fluid, a fact that is some
times poorly appreciated. We looked at the incidence of petrol-related
burns seen in our unit over a 2-year period. Nearly 33 per cent of th
e adult male admissions were petrol-related and 76 per cent were in ch
ildren under the age of 76 years. The commonest cause of injury was at
tempting to start or accelerate a bonfire (38 per cent) with only a sm
all number of barbecue injuries (4 per cent). Petrol causes ct signifi
cant number of burn injuries a year, and particularly worrying were th
e number of children injured. However we feel there is a need for grea
ter public education and perhaps stricter control of this substance.