Objective To understand the characteristics of occupational acute carbon disulfide poisoning cases.

Methods Based on scientific data banks, such as CNKI, Wangfang, Pubmed and Sciencedirect, we collected 172 cases of occupational acute carbon disulfide poisoning in China and abroad, then divided them into two groups, namely, pure carbon disulfide poisoning group and combined poisoning group caused by both carbon disulfide and hydrogen sulfide to summarize and analyze their clinical characteristics.

Results Patients with occupational acute carbon disulfide poisoning mainly showed dizziness and headache, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, staggering gait and other symptoms with the detection rate 94.8%, 79.7%, 69.8%, 41.3%, respectively. The positive rates of three tremor test and ataxia were higher, which were 29.1% and 27.9%, respectively. The main clinical examinations were abnormal electroencephalogram and abnormal electrocardiogram (myocardial ischemia), the detection rates were 9.9% and 9.3%, respectively. There was a significant difference in the positive rate of three tremor test and EEG between the pure carbon disulfide poisoning group and the combined poisoning group (P < 0.05)and there was no significant difference in other indicators(P > 0.05).

Conclusion Acute carbon disulfide poisoning can lead to central nervous system, cardiovascular system and peripheral nerve damage. The diagnostic criteria for occupational carbon disulfide poisoning need to be further improved.