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Everyone has paracetamol in their medicine cabinet but, misused, this medicine can be dangerous or even deadly, as the case Naomi Musenga in France, and is the cause of hundreds of transplants of liver every year.
" 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 of nails ", explains the pharmacologist François Chast.
" 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 we can cut ourselves ", he adds.
Doliprane, Dafalgan, Efferalgan … Many drugs based on paracetamol are sold without a prescription and commonly used against pains and ] fevers . But in too high doses, this substance can attack the liver .
The death of Naomi Musenga, died December 29 at 22 years after being taunted on the phone by an operator of Samu Strasbourg , is " the consequence of a intoxication with paracetamol absorbed by self-medication over several days said Wednesday the prosecutor of this city, Yolande Renzi. [19659003] " The evolutionary destruction of the cells of his liver brought about a failure of all his organs leading rapidly to his death ", according to Mrs. Renzi.
Disputed conclusions by the family: " I do not believe that taking paracetamol was the cause that precipitated the death of my daughter ", who was" well informed about how to take this medicine ", reacted the father of the young woman
" Information Problem "
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), " a single dose of 10 to 15 grams is sufficient to cause hepatic necrosis which may be fatal ". This is why paracetamol is often used in suicides.
The maximum dose is 3 grams per 24 hours in spacing the catches. [19659015] "When you take 4 grams a day for several days, especially if you consume alcohol at the same time, it is likely to cause drug hepatitis called fulminant, that is to say radical quickly" , says 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 WHO
They " are generally followed two days later by anorexia, nausea, malaise, abdominal pain, then progressive signs of hepatic failure and, finally, hepatic coma . "
" Every year in France, nearly a hundred liver transplants (out of about 1,200 in total, ed) are related to paracetamol intoxication ", regrets the Pr Chast. " This is a considerable proportion, all this for misuse of a drug deemed harmless ."
And even if one is vigilant, one can sometimes exceed the maximum dose without knowing it .
" There are 200 medicines that contain paracetamol, I have been a specialist in drugs for 50 years and I am unable to cite them all ", says Professor Jean-Paul Giroud. [19659024] "If you take two, for example one prescribed by a doctor and the other self-medication, you can end up at doses higher than 4 grams per day," he continues.
Professor Giroud pleads for a better information of the general public on the potential dangers of paracetamol: " There is a problem d ' information for which I have struggled for 40 years, but can not say that the public authorities seize it, it is up to them to insist ssus . "
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