Opium administration to infants in Peshawar region of Pakistan.

Use of opium for sedating infants in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan causes a grave public health problem. Among the infants hospitalized for opium overdosage, 22 were studied in detail, and their major clinical picture is presented in this paper. The effect of opium use on the nutritional status of these infants, or the relation of infant opium use to addiction in adult life, have not been assessed. It is, however, pointed out that opium overdosage of infants contributed to infant mortality. Despite emergency treatment, the lethality rate of opium overdosed infants was 40 per cent. It is emphasized that a preventive programme should be undertaken to educate parents who are ignorant of the dangers of opium administration to infants.