Acute plant poisoning: Analysis of clinical features and circumstances of exposure

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Human contact with potentially toxic plants, which may occur through abuse or by accident or attempted suicide, is frequent and sometimes results in clinically significant toxicity. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to identify which plants may lead to severe poisoning, and to define the clinical relevance of plant toxicity for humans in Switzerland. METHODS: We analyzed 42,193 cases of human plant exposure and 255 acute moderate, severe, and lethal poisonings, which were reported to the Swiss Toxicological Information Centre between January 1995 and December 2009. RE-SULTS: Plant contact was rarely responsible for serious poisonings. Lethal intoxications were extremely rare and were caused by plants with cardiotoxic (Taxus baccata) or mitosis-inhibiting (Colchicum autumnale) properties. CONCLUSIONS: Most often, plant contact was accidental and patients remained asymptomatic or developed mild symptoms, which fully resolved within a short time. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 properties. Most often, plant contact was accidental and patients remained asymptomatic or developed mild symptoms, which fully resolved within a short time.

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“…Mahonia 279 Table 2 small differences, to the rank order seen in other studies conducted in Germany [2] and Switzerland [3][4][5]. While the rate of accidental exposures to plant genera like Taxus, Ligustrum, and Ficus was continuously high during the whole study period, the exposure by abuse to plant genera like Brugmansia and Datura showed time-dependent changes with the highest rate being in 2001 and a decreasing frequency in the following years.…”

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Plant exposures are described to be one of the most frequent reasons for calls to poison information centres in Germany [1,2] and Switzerland [3][4][5]. In a recent study in the United States 0%); adults 11.3 % (middle-aged adults 5.2%).

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Plants that can be Poisonous for Cows. A Review

“…Alkaloids present in the plant: atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine (Fuchs et al, 2011), have strong anticholinergic properties (Soler-Rodríguez et al, 2006). But the plant also contains: daturine, and may contain a large amount of nitrates (Mezzasalma et al, 2016).…”

Adverse effects and intoxications related to medicinal/harmful plants

“…However, they are less likely adverse effects than in using conventional drugs and if such effects occur, they are mild and only affecting a small number of people (Philomena, 2011;Spiteri Staines, 2011). Contact with plants was rarely responsible for serious poisoning (Fuchs et al, 2011). Flowering plants produce thousands of secondary metabolites (alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tanins, essential oils, etc.…”

“…Leaves of wild plants collected during spring for food purpose may be responsible for intoxications. Its raw leaves are mainly used to flavour spreads based on cottage cheese, soups and sauces (Gilotta and Brvar, 2010;Fuchs et al, 2011). Dried leaves usually have a very faint odour (Colombo et al, 2010).…”