JIST

Abstract

Poisoning is a global problem, and incidence and trends vary from place to place. To know the regional incidence in Thrissur, Kerala, taking into account commonly used poisons, mortality, manner of poisoning, clinical, postmortem, and analytical findings, as well as the sex, age, etc., of the victims, a retrospective study was conducted for the year 1995, at Thrissur Government Medical College. The results show that males outnumber females (2.69:1), the highest incidence is in the third decade of life, suicidal causes are the commonest, followed by accidental poisoning, and many of the victims died before reaching the hospital (1.29:1), while the mortality even after being admitted to the hospital remained unacceptably high in the first six hours (2.13:1).

Emanation of froth or fluid from the mouth/nostrils (which may or may not be blood-stained), characteristic smell, colour etc of stomach contents, congestion of stomach, congested, oedematous lungs, and generalized visceral congestion are the common postmortem findings in the cases studied.

A significant number of cases were due to carbamate or organophosphate pesticide ingestion. While aluminium phosphide has become the commonest pesticide in some Indian states, hardly any case was associated with this compound in the present study in Thrissur.