title: [Peganum harmala L. poisoning in Morocco: about 200 cases].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Peganum harmala L. is commonly used in traditional medicine in Morocco for its sedative and emmenagogue properties but expose to the risk of overdose and poisoning. The aim of our study was to analyze a series of 200 cases of poisoning collected in poison control and pharmacovigilance center of Morocco in order to describe the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic features and outcome of patients and indicate the toxicity of this plant used primarily for therapeutic purposes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study performed over a period of twenty four years from January 1984 to December 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of patients was 24.4±16.8 years with a female predominance (167 women against 33 men). Therapeutic circumstance was found in 32.5%, followed by suicide (28.5%) and abortion (13.5%). The symptomatology was dominated by neurological, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular signs respectively 34.4%, 31.9 % and 15.8%. The evolution has been specified in 114 cases, 7 deaths have been deplored with a fatality rate of 6.2%.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Toxicologie, Laboratoire Central d'Analyses Médicales, CHU Hassan II et Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Fès, Maroc. achoursanae@gmail.com
authors.forename: Sanae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Achour
authors.forename: Naima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rhalem
authors.forename: Asmae
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khattabi
authors.forename: Hayat
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lofti
authors.forename: Abdelrhani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mokhtari
authors.forename: Abdelmajid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soulaymani
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turcant
authors.forename: Rachida Soulaymani
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bencheikh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology; D032443:Peganum / Q000506:poisoning*; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010939:Plant Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D011605:Psychoses, Substance-Induced / Q000523:psychology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013406:Suicide, Attempted