This little girl arrived in Kisiizi unconscious. In fact, it was as though she was anaesthetised as she did not respond at all to even very painful stimuli. Her Glasgow coma scale was 3, the lowest score.

There was no clear history of what had happened. She had been playing with friends and had seemed fine earlier in the day. There was no history of fever and her previous health had been very good.

In spite of the lack of history, doctors were suspicious that she may have suffered accidental poisoning with organo-phosphate compounds used sometimes in agriculture. She had a low pulse rate. She was treated with atropine and maintenance iv fluids and support.

Happily she steadily improved and the photo shows her ready to go home.

Even though the hospital was very suspicious of poisoning, the family were unable to identify any substances that might have been responsible. Families often have quite a few children and supervision may not always be optimal so the hospital does see poisoning and other accidents such as burns all too often.