Nitric acid is a typical strong
acid that is colorless,
corrosive, and flammable. It is often used for industrial purposes, such as refining,
metal cleaning, and
electroplating. In
Korea, some cases of chemical
pneumonitis from
nitric acid poisoning have been reported, but to our
knowledge, there have been no
reports of
diarrhea caused by
nitric acid poisoning. A 42-year-old man visited a nearby
hospital because of continuous
diarrhea, coughing, and
dyspnea after
inhaling nitric acid fumes at his
workplace the previous day. He was transferred to our
hospital and admitted to the
intensive care unit. He showed
tachypnea and
hypoxemia in our
emergency department. Initial
chest radiographs showed diffuse interstitial infiltrates and ground
glass opacity in both
lungs. The
patient showed improvements in clinical symptoms and on
chest radiographs after receiving
oxygen and
mechanical ventilation,
antibiotics, and systemic
glucocorticoid therapy. After 20 days he was discharged and showed no symptoms and sequelae on his 1-year follow-up.