Burns in children under 3 years of age: the Zaria experience.

This is a retrospective study of 84 children aged 36 months and less who were admitted for burns care from January 1980 to December 1989. Fifty-four (64%) had scalds, 28 (33%) had flame burns and in two children the cause was not known. The upper extremities were most commonly involved. Sixty-five per cent of the children were admitted during the cool, dry Harmattan season. Associated factors included cooking at floor level, bedside fires, epileptic fits in the mothers and general architectural factors. Wound infection was the commonest complication. The overall mortality rate was 27.4%. Burns prevention demands improvement in the design of houses, cooking methods, treatment of epilepsy and abandoning puerperal bathing by mothers.