PYROGENS AND FEVER

DURING 1970 the National Poisons Service received 8,191 reports of poisoning with 65 fatalities. This is reported in the Poisons Information Bulletin No.9 recently issued by the Commonwealth Department of Health, Canberra.' The total compares with 5,001 cases in 1967. 7,655 in 1968 and 8.491 in 1969. The major groups of poisons and cases reported are shown in Table 1. The figures in Table 2 point to the greatest incidence of accidental poisoning in children one and two years of age. The public nonchalance and ignorance in respect of the hazards and safe storage of drugs and poisons suggest a need for intensive educational programmes in this field as well as consideration of safer containers and packagings for dispensed medicines.