Acute fungicide self-poisoning - a prospective case series

Nendick E 1 , Mohamed F 2 , Raubenheimer J 3 , Gawarammana I 4 , Buckley NA 5 , Eddleston M 6

Affiliations 

  • 1 Academic Unit of Medical Education, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
  • 2 South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
  • 3 Pharmacology, Biomedical Informatics and Digital Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • 4 Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacy, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
  • 5 National Poison Centre, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
  • 6 Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention, and Pharmacology, Toxicology & Therapeutics, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Clin Toxicol (Phila), 2022 Oct;60(10):1106-1112.
PMID: 35950874 DOI: 10.1080/15563650.2022.2105710

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pesticide self-poisoning is a global clinical and public health problem. While self-poisoning with insecticides and herbicides has been extensively studied, there is minimal literature on acute fungicide self-poisoning. We aimed to study the clinical course and outcome of fungicide self-poisoned patients recruited to a prospective cohort in Sri Lanka.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective study of patients presenting with fungicide self-poisoning to nine hospitals in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2020. Patients were enrolled by clinical research assistants, with clinical outcomes being recorded at regular review for each patient.

RESULTS: We identified 337 cases of self-poisoning with fungicides (alcohol as only co-ingestant), including 28 different fungicides across 5 different fungicide classes. Median time from ingestion to examination was 3.1 (1.8-5.7) h. Nearly all presented to hospital fully conscious (GCS 15, 15-15)- only 27 patients (8.0%) presented with reduced GCS (<15) and only 2 (0.6%) had GCS 3/15. Most patients (333/337, 98.8%) made a full recovery, of whom only eight (2.37%) required intubation and ventilation. Four patients died (case fatality rate: 1.2%; 95% CI 0.0-23.4) after ingestion of edifenphos (n = 2), propamocarb and pyraclostrobin.

CONCLUSION: Fungicide self-poisoning appears to be less hazardous than insecticide or herbicide self-poisoning, with a substantially lower case fatality in the same cohort. Edifenphos is an exception to this 'less toxic' rule; as a WHO Class Ib highly hazardous pesticide, we recommend its withdrawal from, and replacement in, global agricultural practice. Propamocarb should be listed in the WHO hazard classification as propamocarb hydrochloride to reflect the higher toxicity of the common agricultural formulation. Pyraclostrobin currently has no WHO classification; one is urgently required now that its ingestion has now been linked the death of a patient. Additional prospective clinical data on fungicide self-poisoning is required to expand knowledge on the effects of these diverse compounds.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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