Introduction:-
Datura plant commonly found in waste places all over the India. There are two varieties -
1. Datura alba - A white flower plant
2. Datura niger - A black flower plant
Datura is also known as 'Thorn apple' because fruit are spherical and have sharp spines. The active principle contain the alkaloids are hyoscine or scopolamine, laevo hyosyamine and traces of atropine.
It is also known as Road poison. It is commonly encountered during a journey. The powdered seeds are mixed with food, tea or drink or pan and given to unwary traveler prior to robbery and kidnapping.
Sign and symptoms:-
The earliest symptoms is bitter taste in mouth, there is dryness of the mouth and throat. Resulting in difficulty in taking, dysphagia and unquenchable to thirst. The face is flushed, insensitive to light. The body temperature in raised. The skin is dry and hot. There will be vomiting. These symptoms are followed by giddiness and unsteady gait. The patient become restless and confuse and later become delirious and mutters indinct words. He is subjected to visual and auditory hallucination. The patient become drowsy, the drowsiness may progress to coma and rarely death from respiratory, paralysis.
The important symptoms and signs can be summarized under 9D's-
1. Dryness of mouth and throat
2. Difficulty in talking
3. Dysphagia
4. Dilatation of cutaneous blood vessel
5. Dilatation of pupil
6. Dry hot skin
7. Drunken gait
8. Delirium
9. Drowsiness
Fatal dose- This is about 100-125 seeds. The lethal dose or the alkaloid 60 mg for adult and 4 mg for children.
Fatal period- Death occur within 24 hours.
Treatment:-
The stomach should be evacuated to remove the remnants of the crushed seed by stomach wash with either a weal solution of potassium permagnet. In non-fatal cases recovery takes one or two days and the rest of treatment are symptomatic.
Datura plant commonly found in waste places all over the India. There are two varieties -
1. Datura alba - A white flower plant
2. Datura niger - A black flower plant
Datura is also known as 'Thorn apple' because fruit are spherical and have sharp spines. The active principle contain the alkaloids are hyoscine or scopolamine, laevo hyosyamine and traces of atropine.
It is also known as Road poison. It is commonly encountered during a journey. The powdered seeds are mixed with food, tea or drink or pan and given to unwary traveler prior to robbery and kidnapping.
Sign and symptoms:-
The earliest symptoms is bitter taste in mouth, there is dryness of the mouth and throat. Resulting in difficulty in taking, dysphagia and unquenchable to thirst. The face is flushed, insensitive to light. The body temperature in raised. The skin is dry and hot. There will be vomiting. These symptoms are followed by giddiness and unsteady gait. The patient become restless and confuse and later become delirious and mutters indinct words. He is subjected to visual and auditory hallucination. The patient become drowsy, the drowsiness may progress to coma and rarely death from respiratory, paralysis.
The important symptoms and signs can be summarized under 9D's-
1. Dryness of mouth and throat
2. Difficulty in talking
3. Dysphagia
4. Dilatation of cutaneous blood vessel
5. Dilatation of pupil
6. Dry hot skin
7. Drunken gait
8. Delirium
9. Drowsiness
Fatal dose- This is about 100-125 seeds. The lethal dose or the alkaloid 60 mg for adult and 4 mg for children.
Fatal period- Death occur within 24 hours.
Treatment:-
The stomach should be evacuated to remove the remnants of the crushed seed by stomach wash with either a weal solution of potassium permagnet. In non-fatal cases recovery takes one or two days and the rest of treatment are symptomatic.
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