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تسجيل

Sulfide

المؤلف:  Sue Jickells , Adam Negrusz (Editors)

المصدر:  Clarkes Analytical Forensic Toxicology

الجزء والصفحة:  114

2026-09-27

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Sulfide

Many organic and inorganic sulfide compounds are used in industry, but the most common cause of sulfide poisoning is by inhalation of hydrogen sulfide gas, particularly in industrial or waste disposal sites, including sewers. The gas has a characteristic foul odour of rotten-eggs and has a very low odour threshold (0.03 ppm). However, very high sulfide concentrations may cause paralysis of the olfactory nerves (Guidotti 1994). Hydrogen sulfide occurs naturally in volcanic gases and hot springs. Hydrogen sulfide is unstable and is metabolised rapidly in the body so that it may be difficult to detect in biological samples from cases of suspected poisoning. In cases of suspected acute or chronic exposure to hydrogen sulfide, blood specimens must be collected as soon as possible because of its rapid metabolism. It is metabolised into thio sulfate and so measurement of blood or urine thiosulfate concentration may be the most viable approach to the investigation of acute or chronic sulfide poisoning. Reference values for sulfide concentrations in biological fluids are 10 lg/L but have been reported to be consider ably higher in poisoning incidents. Sulfide concentrations ranged from 30 to 130 lg/L in blood taken from workers 0.5–2 h after accidental exposure to hydrogen sulfide from a sulfate pulp mill. Postmortem results after industrial accidents have shown blood sulfide concentrations of 0.9–3.8 mg/L.