Child's poisoning underlines the need to store cleaning fluids correctly

News that an infant is in hospital in Nicosia, Cyprus, having been poisoned, shows yet again the importance of keeping cleaning fluids in their original, properly labelled bottles.

Police are baffled as to how the poison got into the two-year-old's drink, but they believe that the hotel barman who served her family may have confused a refilled water bottle for water, and used it to dilute her orange juice. Apparently the cleaning fluid looked like water and didn't have any odour that would alert the barman that it might not actually be water.

The child suffered internal burns and ended up on a respirator. We understand that her condition is improving although doctors have not yet been able to gauge the extent of any damage that may have occurred to her internal organs. Her father, who also drank some of the concoction, was not as badly injured and has been released from hospital.

7th February 2008