JIST

Abstract

Insecticide poisoning in India is a major public health concern. Due to insects' emerging resistance, farmers use newer insecticides and pre-mixed, fixed-dose insecticides. Examples of pre-mixed, fixed-dose insecticides are ethion 40% -cypermethrin 5% combination; chlorpyrifos 50% - cypermethrin 5% combination, trizopas 35% - deltacypermethrin 1% combination, etc. Such pre-fixed combinations are available and sold in India. We report a case series of fatal poisoning by Chlorpyrifos 50% -cypermethrin 5%, a pre-mixed, xed-dose combination. As per WHO, chlorpyriphos is a class II insecticide and is considered moderately toxic to humans. The LD50 is 135 mg/kg. Cypermethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid class II pesticide with LD 50 of 250mg/kg. The physician should be aware of such pre-mixed combinations and overlapping clinical manifestations produced by these pesticides