Abstract

Background; Paraquat is a broad spectrum liquid herbicide, leading to severe and often fatal toxicity. Most cases of intoxication, especially in third-world countries are due to suicidal attempts rather than homicidal or accidental exposure, because of its widespread availability and relative low cost. Diagnosis is often difficult in the absence of proper history, nonspecific clinical features, and lack of diagnostic tests.
Objective; To describe the variability in presentation , primary outcome from intentional poisoning and to review its impact on morbidity and mortality of poisoning.
Results; We report a case series of eight patients with paraquat poisoning who presented predominantly with pain in throat and vomiting .Out of eight cases six patients died despite intensive treatment. Most deaths occurred within in two weeks.
Conclusion; Paraquat poison is highly lethal or deadly poison with very high mortality rate of around 70 to 80%.Also presentation may be variable and sometimes patient may present with mild symptoms with normal vitals or may remain asymptomatic for first few days. Although even in such cases morbidity and mortality of poison may be very high .

Key words: Paraquat, Herbicide, Acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi organ failure.