Background: Burns continue to be a medical, psychological and economic problem in developed and developing countries. Burns in Egypt represent a major problem as compared with heart diseases, malignancy and road accidents. Objectives: Accordingly, this work was conducted to study the medico legal aspects of burned cases and the magnitude of burn problem in Burn Unit in Tanta University Hospital. Study design: This study was cross sectional, conducted over six months where (160) burned cases admitted to Burn Unit in Tanta University hospital from the start of March 2013 to the end of August 2013. All the patients were included except old burn injuries. Patients were interviewed, clinically examined and investigated, and then data were collected in a specially designed sheet for every patient. Results: One hundred and sixty cases admitted to Burn Unit in Tanta University Hospital during a period of six months from the start of March 2013 to the end of August 2013. The highest percentage of patients was among the age group less than 10 years (38.125%). The majority of the studied cases were distributed among males (58.1%) in rural areas (61.9%). Burns at home constituted (84.4%) of burns. Concerning the agent causing burn, flame constituted (51.9%) followed by scald (37.5%), chemical (6.3%) and electrical burns (4.4%). Most flame burns were due to explosion of gas cylinder. Most burns were of second degree (49.37%), distributed all over the body (43.8%) and involved 15-30% total body surface area (TBSA) (40%). Accidental burns accounted for 95% of all cases followed by suicidal and homicidal cases (3.1 and 1.9% respectively). All suicidal cases were females, caused by flame and distributed all over the body with involvement of more than 60% TBSA. While homicidal cases were males in urban areas. Respiratory complications were the commonest cause of death (38.9%). It could be concluded that intensive educational programs concerning burn dangers, proper prevention, safety measures and regular servicing of gas appliances must be followed. Psychological autopsy is needed in suicidal cases.

Background: Acute poisoning remains a major public health problem and represents a frequent cause of admission in emergency units, especially in developing countries. Many studies must be focused on the different patterns of acute poisoning in patients admitted to poison control centers. So, the aim of this study is to characterize the poisoning cases admitted to poison control center, Tanta University Emergency Hospital, Egypt. Study design: All admitted acutely poisoned patients from January to December 2012 were evaluated retrospectively. Data of socio-demographic characteristics, time of admission, circumstances of poisoning, agents, route of exposure and mortality rate were collected from medical records of the hospital. During this period, 1104 patients were admitted. Results: Of the admitted patients, 57.1% were females and 42.9% were males. The majority (31.2%) of cases were in the age group between 1-10 years. Most poisonings were accidental (55.2%) while suicidal attempts were 44.8%. Females were 76.2% of all suicidal poisoning while males were 58.5% of all accidental poisoning. The most important agents used were therapeutic drugs (32.3%) especially sedatives and hypnotics (12.6%) followed by analgesics (9.24%) and CVS drugs (8.96%). Pesticides were the second common agents used (28.6%) of which organophosphates were the commonest (67.7%). Mortality rate was 0.5% which was due to suicidal attempts by pesticides. Conclusion: The study concluded that high rate of acute poisoning was between patients of age group between 1-10 years. Females were of high suicidal attempts than males, while males were predominant in accidental poisoning. The most commonly substances included are drugs and pesticides. Prevention strategies should be directed towards limiting access to the implicated substances involved in both accidental and suicidal poisoning.