ACUTE INFANTILE METHEMOGLOBINEMIA. A STATISTICAL APPROACH

Other forms of nitrogen include nitrite (an atom of nitrogen and two atoms of oxygen - NO2 -), ammonia (an atom of nitrogen and three atoms of hydrogen -NH3) and various nitrogen oxides, as well as compounds with other elements. Since nitrate is a negatively charged ion (-), it can bind to other positively charged ions (+) and form compounds known as nitrates. According to a linear evolution, we could assume that in 2027 the average number of cases should be about 7.5. According to the literature, the lethal oral dose of nitrites and nitrates was set to 8-80 mg/kg and 33-250 mg/kg body weight, respectively [17]. The World Health Organization's recommendations for the daily intake of nitrates in baby food is of 25 mg/kg, because only about 10% of the ingested nitrites are converted into nitrates in newborns [19], being supported at European level by directives [20] and regulations and, at national level, by decisions and norms for water quality supervision and control [21-23].