You are a new EMT in a very busy urban EMS system. Before joining this agency, you worked as a volunteer in a rural EMS system, where you did not experience many EMS calls. You are working with a seasoned EMT when you are requested to respond to a residential home for an unresponsive 13-year-old male patient. Upon your arrival, the family escorts you into the garage, where the boy is being cradled by his crying mother. The boy is unresponsive. As you draw nearer to the boy, your partner says to you, "Hey, you smell that moth ball smell? I know what might be going on." Given your partner's statement, how might the odor be related to the patient's condition?

Mothballs may contain naphthalene which can cause red blood cells to rupture and cause hemolytic (blood-breaking) anemia. Children are at the highest risk of this condition because they can receive a higher exposure due to their lower weight or they can swallow mothballs thinking they are candy. Also, some children may have a hereditary condition called glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency which puts them at a higher risk.