Paracetamol, a common but dangerous medicine

" Paracetamol is the best and the worst of all, it is an innocuous drug, very well tolerated in 99.999% of cases but becomes an extremely dangerous weapon when used outside nails ", explains the pharmacologist François Chast to AFP. " It's like a kitchen knife: it's an effective and safe tool when you hold it by the handle, but if you're clumsy, you can cut yourself ," he adds.

Doliprane, Dafalgan, Efferalgan … Many paracetamol-based medicines are sold without a prescription and commonly used for pain and fevers. But at too high doses, this substance can attack the liver. The death of Naomi Musenga, who died on December 29 at the age of 22 after being mocked on the phone by an operator of the Samu de Strasbourg, is " the consequence of a paracetamol intoxication absorbed by self-medication over several days " said Yolande Renzi, the city's prosecutor, on Wednesday,

" The evolutionary destruction of the cells of his liver brought about a complete failure of all his organs leading to his death ", according to Mrs. Renzi,

Disputed Findings by the Fam ille: "I do not believe that taking paracetamol is the cause that precipitated the death of my daughter", who was "well informed about how to take this drug ", responded the father of the young woman.

Information problem

According to the World Health Organization (WHO)," a single dose of 10 to 15 grams is enough to provoke hepatic necrosis be deadly. " This is why paracetamol is often used in suicides. The maximum dose is 3 grams per 24 hours, spacing the catch.

" When you take 4 grams a day for several days, especially if you consume alcohol at the same time, that is nature to provoke a medicinal hepatitis called fulminant, that is to say radical quickly ", emphasizes Professor Chast. This is an emergency, which requires the administration of a molecule called N-acetylcysteine. For lack of prompt treatment, this liver condition can be fatal.

An overdose of paracetamol first causes " discrete signs of gastrointestinal irritation ," according to the WHO. They " are generally followed two days later by anorexia, nausea, malaise, abdominal pain, then progressive signs of liver failure and, finally, hepatic coma ".

And even if one is vigilant, one can sometimes exceed the maximum dose without knowing it. " There are 200 medicines containing paracetamol, I have been a specialist in drugs for 50 years and I am unable to cite them all ," says Professor Jean-Paul Giroud. " If you take two of them, for example one prescribed by a doctor and the other self-medication, you can end up in doses of over 4 grams a day ," he continues.