Poison exposure in children before passover

Background: Extensive cleaning of homes in Israel before Passover may resul t in increased exposure of children to cleaning substances. Objectives: To evaluate the potential danger of Passover cleaning to childr en, and to study the risk factors in order to identify areas for prevention . Methods: All cases of poison exposure in Jewish and Arab children under the age of 15 years reported to the Israel Poison Information Center during 19 90-95 (n = 5,583) were analyzed for the 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after Pa ssover. Poison exposures in Jewish children <15 years old were studied in s even pediatric emergency foams for the 2 weeks before and 6 weeks after Pas sover (n = 123). Results: The IPIC data showed a highly significant 38% increase in the aver age weekly poison exposure rate for the 2 weeks before Passover compared wi th the remaining 10 weeks. Data recorded by the pediatric emergency rooms s howed a twofold increase in cleaning substance poisoning during the 2 weeks before Passover compared with the following 6 weeks. The rise in exposures to cleaning substances was observed among children from secular, religious and ultra-orthodox families. In these exposures, the substance was found i n open containers in 70% of cases. Conclusions: The extensive cleaning of homes among Jewish families in prepa ration for Passover Doses the danger to young children of cleaning substanc e poisoning. Increasing public awareness, closer observation of children, a nd keeping these substances in closed containers should increase children's safety during this annual cleaning.