Amitraz poisoning: Early gastric lavage can prevent life-threatening complications

Abstract

Amitraz is a worldwide available pesticide of formamidine chemical family, proven to have reversible toxic effects on both animals and humans. Upon intoxication by ingestion, inhalation, or dermal route, it can cause various central nervous system (CNS), CVS, respiratory and gastrointestinal effects, some of which may be life threatening. Because of lack of specific antidote patients are usually managed with supportive and symptomatic management. We describe a case of 36-year-old female patient who presented to us with alleged history of 120 ml amitraz ingestion. She was given early gastric lavage with activated charcoal at emergency along with supportive and symptomatic management. She developed mild CNS depression, bradycardia, miosis, and fluctuating blood pressure. She was managed in intensive care unit and was kept under close hemodynamic monitoring. Her clinical course during hospital stay was uneventful and was successfully discharged without any residual deficits. According to previously published data, this amount of amitraz intoxication could have caused more serious clinical manifestations. This disproportionately less severe clinical manifestation in our patient is attributed to early gastric lavage. Ominous of reducing amitraz-related health hazards lies in the hands of primary health care physicians and regulatory bodies of government.

Keywords

• amitraz
• atropine
• formamidine
• gastric lavage