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John W. Peters, MD

JAMA. 1981;246(14):1588-1589.

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

TOXICITY from hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) has been experienced in industries involving petroleum refining, manufacturing of heavy water, tanning, vulcanization of rubber, manufacturing of rayon, and also in the fishing and refuse industries.^1,2 An episode of H₂S poisoning occurred in an acute-care hospital, where H₂S gas resulted from the reaction of a strong acid in an industrial cleaner with plaster of paris sludge in a cast room drain.

Report of a Case

A previously healthy 45-year-old man set out to clean the cast room drain trap of a community hospital with 90% sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) solution. Previous efforts to clean the drain had been limited to mechanical means (snaking) because of the high sludge content. As the H₂SO₄ solution was poured into the drain in a small basement cubicle, noxious fumes spread through the hospital and the workman . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Internal Medicine, M. S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine, Hershey.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Internal Medicine, M. S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033 (Dr Peters).

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