Suicide attempt by ingestion of rotenone-containing plant extracts: one case report in French Guiana.
BACKGROUND
Several species of plants in the Fabaceae family are traditionally used for poison fishing because they contain ichthyotoxic rotenoids. In French Guiana two species of Fabaceae belonging to Lonchocarpus genus with a toxic rotenone effect are used for such ancestral practices. Rotenone is of low toxicity for humans when it is diluted, but its neurotoxicity at higher concentrations is well known to users.


METHODS
The purpose of this article is to describe a case of self-poisoning by an 86-year-old woman who ingested a bowl of mashed ichthyotoxic plants. Despite early onset of severe symptoms, the patient regained consciousness and resumed normal breathing within a few hours with only symptomatic treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical pattern observed in this patient (onset of digestive manifestations followed quickly by loss of conscience and respiratory insufficiency) is in agreement with the few poisonings reported in the literature involving other Fabaceae species containing rotenoids in Asia or involving concentrated rotenone used in insecticides. In patients, who survive the initial phase, symptoms usually regress quickly.
Chesneau
Pierre
P
Samu Guyane Française, Centre hospitalier Andrée Rosemon, Cayenne, French Guiana.
Knibiehly
Marc
M
Tichadou
Lucia
L
Calvez
Mélanie
M
Joubert
Michel
M
Hayek-Lanthois
Maryvonne
M
De Haro
Luc
L
D000208:Acute Disease; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000506:poisoning*; D005260:Female; D005616:French Guiana; D006801:Humans; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000506:poisoning*; D012402:Rotenone / Q000506:poisoning*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D010936:Plant Extracts; D012402:Rotenone