Paraquat: A fatal poison

• Main Authors: J Shashibhushan, K Venugopal, Mudegoudara Lingaraja, C P Patanjali, C Suresh, Vishwanath Huggi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2015-01-01
• Series: Medical Journal of Dr. D.Y. Patil University
• Subjects: Acute respiratory distress syndrome; cyclophosphamide; herbicide; methylprednisolone; N-acetyl cysteine
• Online Access: http://www.mjdrdypu.org/article.asp?issn=0975-2870;year=2015;volume=8;issue=3;spage=370;epage=374;aulast=Shashibhushan

Paraquat (1, 1′-dimethyl-4, 4′-dipyridylium) is a bipyridilium herbicide used widely in our country and is a highly toxic compound. This compound is very notorious to cause rapid development of renal, liver, and respiratory failure with very high mortality due to lack of specific antidote and dearth of high-quality evidence-based treatment. Respiratory system involvement is the most common cause of death in these people. We hereby report a fatal case of a 30-year-old male with a history of paraquat consumption. The patient developed oliguric renal failure, deterioration of liver function, and acute respiratory distress syndrome over next few days. Different treatment modalities were tried to manage patient′s condition. In this case, none of the strategies worked well, and death ensued due to multi-organ dysfunction syndrome.