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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2005;294:2009-2010.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Burn units across the United States are increasingly treating a new type of patient, individuals injured in explosions and fires from homemade laboratories producing illicit methamphetamine, or meth.

Small "meth labs" have sprouted up around the country. The US Department of Justice reported that in 2004, there were 17 033 meth lab-related seizures by law enforcement. These facilities are often found in homes, trailers, and even motel rooms. "Cooks" at such poorly ventilated manufacturing sites mix and heat volatile chemicals to make methamphetamine, creating a recipe for disaster.

Fires at covert improvised laboratories used to produce illicit methamphetamine are producing a new type of burn patient. (Photo credit: AP/Wide World Photos)

TOXIC CONTAMINANTS

While meth lab fires are not tracked nationally, anecdotal accounts indicate that treating this new type of patient is taxing some burn units. Moreover, physicians who are unfamiliar with the potentially complicating factors and confounding conditions associated with . . . [Full Text of this Article]