Surfactant replacement therapy in a pediatric near-drowning case in manure.

Abstract: Drowning is defined as suffocation by submersion especiallyin water and is a leading cause of injury-related death in children. Agegroups at greatest risk are toddlers and male adolescents. It is the secondmost common cause of accidental death in children after road accidents.Treatment consists of resuscitation and stabilization. The use of surfactantafternear-drowninginwaterisreportedintheliteratureinfewcasereports.We report here a boy whose condition did not get better with con-ventional treatment,but dramatically improved aftersurfactanttreatmentafter near-drowning in a fluid with manure.Key Words: drowning, surfactant, manure(Pediatr Emer Care 2012;28: 913Y914) D rowning is defined as suffocation by submersion espe-cially in water and is a leading cause of injury-relateddeath in children. 1 Rates of drowning death vary with age, sex,and race. Age groups at greatest risk are toddlers and maleadolescents.After1yearofage,malesareatagreater risk.Itisthe second most common cause of accidental death in childrenafter road accidents.