Examination of Firearms Review: 2007 to 2010 - Interpol

3.5.1.3 Other drugs
Carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication is one of the most common types of
poisoning in the modern world. A retrospective study based on toxicological
results of autopsies from 1999 to 2007 in Morocco revealed that 139 out of
4402 analyses were recorded as acute CO intoxications, and the average
carbon monoxide concentration was 5.76 ± 4.3 mL/100mL of blood [489]. A
toxicological study of a deceased found dead in a car equipped with a hose
leading exhaust from the engine to the interior of the car was reported [490].
Analysis revealed a moderately elevated COHb and a high methemoglobin
saturation level (MetHb) in peripheral blood. The cause of death could possibly
be attributed to a combination of methemoglobinemia and a moderately high
COHb concentration. A case of suicidal inhalation of motorbike exhaust, a
mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and gasoline vapor, by a 38-year-old female
was reported [491]. The %COHb determined in blood was 73%. Gasoline
concentrations in heart blood and vitreous humor were 22.3 and 1.0 mg/L,
respectively. Simultaneous deaths of two individuals by inhalation of hydrogen
sulfide were reported [492]. Autopsies of the two patients revealed a partial
green discoloration of the skin and pulmonary edema with high levels of
thiosulfate in the blood (0.089 mmol/L and 0.142 mmol/L, respectively). In a
study to determine toluene exposure, blood toluene levels (BT) and urinary
hippuric acid (UHA) levels in 65 homeless adolescents were measured.
Toluene was detected in 91.9% of the investigated population, who presented
BT levels from 0.5 to 83.7 µg/mL. The study concluded that UHA levels higher
than 3.0 g/g creatinine indicate intentional exposure to toluene [493].
A fatality case involving a 27-year-old woman with epilepsy was studied, with
femoral blood concentrations of 2.9 mg/kg oxcarbazepine and 66 mg/kg
10-hydroxycarbazepine, respectively [494]. Reviewing 26 postmortem cases
involving oxcarbazepine during the period 2001–2006, the
10-hydroxycarbazepine concentrations ranged from 2.2 to 48 mg/kg; therefore,
oxcarbazepine intoxication in this case was implicated as a possible cause of
death.
Tramadol is an extensively used centrally acting analgesic and 17 forensic
autopsy cases with fatal unintentional tramadol intoxications among Swedes
between 1995 and 2005 were examined [495 ]. The median tramadol
concentration was 2.0 µg/g with a mean age of 44; 14 subjects were identified
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