Identification of diethylene glycol in sera from Egyptian children by frequency-pulsed electron-capture gas-liquid chromatography.

Sera taken from fifteen patients (from Kerdasa village near Cairo, Egypt) infected with Schistosoma haematobium, with eggs present in the urine, were studied by frequency-pulsed electron-capture gas-liquid chromatography (FPEC-GLC). Some of the patients were treated with metrifonate and again studied by FPEC-GLC. Diethylene glycol was detected in the sera of untreated patients infected with S. haematobium. This compound was identified by negative chemical ionization and electron-impact mass spectrometry. Initially we suspected that the build-up of diethylene glycol in these patients was caused by schistosomiasis infection. However, in a follow-up blind-coded study using FPEC-GLC, which included 37 sera from Kerdasa and Tamooh villages near Cairo, Egypt, we detected diethylene glycol in eleven samples, four of which were controls from the villages. These latter findings indicate that the source of diethylene glycol might be the environment or foodstuffs, but the specific source has not been determined. Regardless of the source, diethylene glycol could affect the health of these Egyptian children by causing a narcotic effect, increased bladder stones, and increased numbers of bladder tumours.