MEDICOLEGAL IMPORTANCE OF ORGANOPHOSPHORUS POISONING IN YOUNG ADULTS

Authors

  • Salma Shazia Department of Forensic Medicine Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan
  • Omair Khan Jadoon Department of Forensic Medicine Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan
  • Mahwish Zeb Department of Forensic Medicine, Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan
  • Sarwat Abbasi Department of Biochemistry, Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan
  • Muhammad Atif Khan A&E Department, ATH, Atd
  • Haroon ur Rashid Women Medical College Abbottabad
  • Aftab Alam Khan Department of Psychatry, Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan
  • Maimoona Haroon Women Medical College Abbottabad-Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55519/JAMC-02-13257

Abstract

Background: Poison is defined as any substance that harms, endangers, or even kills a person irrespective of the quality or quantity. Pakistan is a developing country and farming is the major occupation of most of the population. Due to the easy availability and increased use of pesticides, accidental and suicidal poisoning is very common. The objective of the study is to find out the most common poison used by people in the general population and its frequency in our setup. Methods: Casualty Department of the Ayub Teaching Hospital in Abbottabad, served as the site of this retrospective investigation. Registrations between January 1st and December 31st, 2023, provided the data. All cases with a history of poisoning were included. Using SPSS 22, the data was analyzed. Sample was limited to those who were admitted when they were still alive. Ethical permission was taken from hospital administration. Results: The study revealed that poisoning was more common among females and the most common age group affected was 16-22years. 57.8% (52) cases were of suicidal intent while 40% (36) were accidental. Conclusion: Female and young people are more prone to Aluminium Phosphide (wheat pill) poison. It is a dangerous and lethal poison, so healthcare workers at emergency department ought to be prepared for such cases. Furthermore, its routine use as a domestic pesticide has to be strictly prohibited by creating awareness among the public. public.

Author Biographies

Salma Shazia, Department of Forensic Medicine Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan

 

Omair Khan Jadoon, Department of Forensic Medicine Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan

 

Sarwat Abbasi, Department of Biochemistry, Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad-Pakistan

 

Muhammad Atif Khan, A&E Department, ATH, Atd

 

Haroon ur Rashid, Women Medical College Abbottabad

 

Maimoona Haroon, Women Medical College Abbottabad-Pakistan

 

References

Awan RA. Drug, medicine, poisoning and its management. in: Awan RA, editor. Principle and practice of forensic medicine. Lahore, Pakistan: Zubair book depot, 2018;p.164.

Yan H, Xiang P, Zhang S, Shen B, Shen M. Diagnosis of aluminum phosphide poisoning using a new analytical approach: forensic application to a lethal intoxication. Int J Legal Med 2017;131(4):1001–7.

Jadhav AP, Nusair MB, Ingole A, Alpert MA. Unresponsive ventricular tachycardia associated with aluminum phosphide poisoning. Am J Emerg Med 2012;30(4):633.e3–5.

Merin O, Fink D, Fink DL, Shahroor S, Schlesinger Y, Amir G, et al. Salvage ECMO deployment for fatal aluminum phosphide poisoning. Am J Emerg Med 2015;33(11):1718.e1–3.

Soltaninejad K, Faryadi M, Sardari F. Acute pesticide poisoning related deaths in Tehran during the period 2003-2004. J Forensic Leg Med 2007;14(6):352–54.

Shadnia S, Soltaninejad K. Spontaneous ignition due to intentional acute aluminum phosphide poisoning. J Emerg Med 2011;40(2):179–81.

Yadav J, Athawal BK, Dubey BP, Yadav VK. Spontaneous ignition in case of celphos poisoning. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 2007;28(4):353–5.

Shokrzadeh M, Zarei H, Jalilian J, Badeli A, EbrahimiFalahtalab F, Shayeste Y. A comparison of mortality rate caused by aluminum phosphide with other poisonings in Golestan Province, Iran, 2010 - 2016. Med J Mashhad Univ Med Sci 2017;60:689–90.

Lall SB, Peshin SS, Mitra S. Methemoglobinemia in aluminium phosphide poisoning in rats. Indian J Exp Biol 2000;38(1):95–7

Olson KR, Anderson IB, Benowitz NL, Blanc PD, Clark RF, Kearney TE, et al. Poisoning and drug overdose. 7th. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2017; p.306–7.

Solgi R, Abdollahi M. Proposing an antidote for poisonous phosphine in view of mitochondrial electrochemistry facts. J Med Hypotheses Ideas 2012;6(1):32–4.

Singh SP, Aggarwal AD, Oberoi SS, Aggarwal KK, Thind AS, Bhullar DS, et al. Study of poisoning trends in north India--a perspective in relation to world statistics. J Forensic Leg Med 2013;20(1):14–8.

Proudfoot AT. Aluminium and zinc phosphide poisoning. Clin Toxicol (Phila) 2009;47(2):89–100.

Qureshi MA, Nadeem S, Ahmed T, Tariq F, Rehman H, Qasim AP. Aluminium Phosphide Poisoning: Clinical Profile and Outcome of Patients Admitted in a Tertiary Care Hospital. Ann Punjab Med Coll 2018;12(3):191–94.

Amir A, Raza A, Qureshi T, Ghulam B, Mahesar, Jafferi S, et al. Organophosphate Poisoning: Demographics, Severity Scores and Outcomes From National Poisoning Control Centre, Karachi. [Internet]. [cited 2024 Feb]. Available from: https://www.cureus.com/articles/31727-organophosphate-poisoning-demographics-severity-scores-and-outcomes-from-national-poisoning-control-centre-karachi#!/

Dabholkar S, Pirani S, Davis M, Khan M, Eddleston M. Suicides by pesticide ingestion in Pakistan and the impact of pesticide regulation. BMC Public Health 2023;23(1):676.

Suliman MI, Jibran R, Rai M. The analysis of organophosphates poisoning cases treated at Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur in 2000-2003 Pak J Med Sci 2006;22(3):244–9.

Additional Files

Published

2024-06-30

Issue

Vol. 36 No. 2 (2024): JOURNAL OF AYUB MEDICAL COLLEGE ABBOTTABAD

Section

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Salma Shazia, Omair Khan Jadoon, Mahwish Zeb, Sarwat Abbasi, Muhammad Atif Khan, Haroon ur Rashid, Aftab Alam Khan, Maimoona Haroon

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License  CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.

USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.