title: Suicide attempt by ingestion of rotenone-containing plant extracts: one case report in French Guiana.
abstract: 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.
authors: Samu Guyane Française, Centre hospitalier Andrée Rosemon, Cayenne, French Guiana.
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Chesneau
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: Knibiehly
authors: Lucia
authors: L
authors: Tichadou
authors: Mélanie
authors: M
authors: Calvez
authors: Michel
authors: M
authors: Joubert
authors: Maryvonne
authors: M
authors: Hayek-Lanthois
authors: Luc
authors: L
authors: De Haro
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D012402:Rotenone