BEWARE OF 'SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER' PATIENTS, HOSPITALS WARNED

Weekend drug abuse is now such a problem it has created a phenomenon dubbed
by doctors "Saturday night fever".

The term describes a collection of symptoms including nausea, palpitations,
panic, anxiety and increased temperature.

Psychiatrists said hospital casualty staff dealing with such cases should
suspect the taking of "dance drugs", particularly ecstasy.

A study at St Thomas's Hospital, London, found 48 patients attended the
Accident and Emergency Department for ecstasy related problems over a
period of 15 months.

All were aged 15 to 30 and the majority had taken the drug at a club or
rave. Almost half were brought into hospital between 10pm on Saturday night
and 9am on Sunday morning.

Most patients had taken between a half and two tablets of ecstasy but
two-thirds had taken other drugs at the same time, mainly amphetamines and
cocaine.

Many had collapsed or lost consciousness, and six of the multiple drug
takers suffered serious complications of delirium, seizures and coma. Seven
patients had to be admitted to hospital.

Dr Hugh Williams, senior registrar in psychiatry at St Thomas's, and
colleagues described the "Saturday night fever" syndrome in the Journal of
Accident and Emergency Medicine.

They concluded: "For young adults presenting late at night at weekends and
exhibiting symptoms of sympathetic overactivity, disturbed behaviour, and
increased temperature ("Saturday night fever") the use of stimulant dance
drugs especially MDMA (ecstasy) should be suspected.

"As MDMA use does not appear to occur in isolation, the clinical picture is
likely to be complicated by multiple rather than single drug ingestion.
This poses increased diagnostic and management challenges for A&E staff who
typically represent the front line response to dance drug related problems."

Copyright 1998 Press Association Limited.

Checked-by: Richard Lake