An epidemiological study of the incidence of poisoning in children in the Bloemfontein area during 1 year was carried out. Deliberate and accidental poisonings were studied relative to: (I) age and sex of poisoned children; (il) type of poison involved; and (iil) the time the poisoning occurred. This study showed that deliberate poisoning occurred more frequently in girls than in boys (67,5% v. 32,5%), that accidental poisoning occurred mostly in the preschool years and then more frequently in boys than in girls (65,1% v. 34,9%) and that drugs were involved in most poisonings
