3-Year-Old Child Dies After Accidentally Consuming Rat Poison

A 3-year-old child in India died Tuesday, three days after he accidentally consumed rat poison.

The boy, who was identified only as Rasinsha, was a native of the southern state of Kerala.

The doctors at MIMS Hospital in the district of Kozhikode said the boy was undergoing treatment at the facility before he died. He was admitted to another hospital previously. The treatment he received for the last three days in two different hospital could not save his life, Mathrubhumi reported.

Rasinsha was playing inside his house when he came in contact with a tube that contained rat poison, sources told NDTV. The child started nibbling the tube, which had been discarded by one of the family members. The poison then reportedly entered his body through his saliva.

The child had shown some improvements during treatment, but he died Tuesday morning, local media reported. It remained unclear who all were at home with the child at the time of the incident.

Rat poisons, or rodenticides, are common household products that are made of many toxic chemicals harmful for humans and animals. While some rat poisons cause mild irritation when touched, consuming them is extremely dangerous and can lead to internal bleeding, organ failure, paralysis, coma and death.

This is why it is important to keep rat poison in a safe place with proper signs. It should always kept away from the reach of children. In many cases, signs of poisoning may not appear until hours or even days.

In September last year, an 18-year-old girl died after she brushed her teeth with rat poison, mistaking it for toothpaste. The incident took place in Mumbai, India’s biggest city and one of the most populous in the world. The girl, identified as Apsana Khan, woke up in the morning and went to brush her teeth as usual. However, she mistakenly picked up and used a tube of rat poison cream kept beside the toothpaste tube. “While brushing she realised that she has not used the toothpaste due to which she washed her mouth immediately," the police told local media at the time. The girl was scared to tell her parents as she thought they might scold her so she kept popping some medicines.