Quantitative analysis of 1-naphthol in urine of neonates exposed to mothballs: the value in infants with unexplained anaemia.

In Nigeria, severe NNJ is common in babies exposed to mothballs and other icterogenic agents. High-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was employed for quantitative analysis of 1 and 2-naphtol in the urine of 50 neonates aged one to 19 days. Five of the 25 babies who had a history of exposure to mothballs, and none of the babies without a history of exposure had 1-naphtol in their urine. The value of 1-naphtol ranged between 0.75 and 11.69 micrograms/ml with mean of 5 +/- 5 micrograms/ml. The overall correlation coefficient (r) between bilirubin values and 1-naphtol was 0.1 while it was 1 in the three G-6-PD deficient infants. The procedure will be very useful in the evaluation of infants with unexplained NNJ, anaemia, acute haemolytic jaundice and haemoglobinuria if naphthalene poisoning is suspected.