Plant poisoning. Health care

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Plant poisoning. Health care

Fundamentals of First Aid (OPMP)

Until now acute poisoning by poisonous plants are a common type of "chemical" disease. Among the 300 thousand species of plants growing on the globe, more than 700 can cause acute poisoning. There are about 400 of them in our country.

These poisonings occur mainly in the warm season - in spring, summer or autumn in tourists who eat unfamiliar plants or unknown mushrooms, as well as in children who are attracted by the beautiful and bright appearance of many inedible berries and plants. Acute poisonings that develop under these conditions are often massive and, like a real epidemic, take dozens of human lives.

The cause of acute poisoning with plant poisons can be self-treatment - independent or on the recommendation of persons without medical education, taking tinctures and decoctions of herbs.

There are actually poisonous plants, which contain chemicals that are toxic to humans, and cultivated plants, which can be poisoned due to a change in their chemical composition or infection with fungi if stored improperly, as, for example, happens with grain or potatoes that have overwintered in the field.

General information about poisoning

The active toxic principle of poisonous plants are various chemical compounds, which are mainly related to alkaloids, glycosides, vegetable soaps (saponins), acids (hydrocyanic, oxalic acids), resins, hydrocarbons, etc.

Alkaloids are complex organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. Their salts are highly soluble in water and quickly absorbed in the stomach and intestines.

The structural originality of glycosides lies in the fact that they easily break down into their carbohydrate part and several other toxic substances.

The process of formation and accumulation of active toxic principles of poisonous plants is not the same and can change dramatically depending on the stage of their development, local environmental (climatic, soil, etc.) conditions. The problem of studying the toxicity of plants is devoted to a special section of toxicology - phytotoxicology.

Species differences in the sensitivity of animals and humans to the action of plant poisons are widely known. For example, a horse and a dog carry almost 1 times more per 10 kg of body weight, a pigeon - 100 times more, and a frog - 1000 times more dose of opium alkaloids than a person. The toxicity of many plants has long been known, but every year the number of newly studied plant poisons increases.

The most common poisonous plants

According to "selective toxicity", plants can be divided into poisons with a predominant effect on the central nervous system (CNS), heart, gastrointestinal tract, liver, and skin.

I. Plants causing predominant damage to the nervous system:

aconite (wrestler, blue buttercup, Issyk-Kul root);
henbane;
belladonna (Belladonna);
hemlock spotted;
milestone poisonous;
drugs;
Indian hemp;
soporific poppy;
tobacco;
sowing rank;
celandine,
chilibuha (vomit).

II. Plants that cause predominant damage to the gastrointestinal tract:

colchicum;
wolf's bast;
castor beans (Turkish hemp);
buckthorn;
spurge;
nightshade.

III. Plants that cause primary damage to the heart:

lily of the valley;
digitalis;
hellebore.

IV. Plants that cause predominant damage to the liver:

heliotrope;
bitter pink;
ragwort.

V. Plants that cause predominant damage to the skin:

hogweed;
nettle.

Many poisonous plants are characterized by a toxic effect simultaneously on several organs or systems of the body, for example, the central nervous system and the heart (aconite), the heart and gastrointestinal tract (helloweed, foxglove), liver and kidneys (heliotrope, ragwort), etc. no less preferential selective toxic effect on a certain organ always manifests itself with a lower dose of the toxic principle of a poisonous plant that has entered the body. One of the most common pathological syndromes that develop in acute poisoning with poisonous plants is toxic gastroenteritis. Many plants are characterized by an irritating effect on the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, therefore, when they enter, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea develop.

The absorption of most plant poisons into the blood occurs in the lower parts of the small intestine, and some of them (saponins) cause a local irritant effect on the mucous membrane and thereby increase the rate of their adsorption.

If the storage rules are not followed, overwintered in the field or sprouted and green potatoes can be toxic, in which a large amount of solanine alkaloid is formed, which causes pronounced dyspeptic disorders. Similar phenomena develop when eating raw beans, mainly white, as well as raw beech nuts. Honey can acquire toxic properties from bees that collect nectar from plants with poisonous pollen, such as wild rosemary. Such honey causes fever, vomiting, diarrhea.

Comprehensive treatment and prevention of acute poisoning

The general principles of the treatment of acute poisoning by poisonous plants largely correspond to the generally accepted methods of combating the pathology of endogenous toxicosis and consist in the early use of complex therapy as part of measures for emergency detoxification of the body and symptomatic therapy.

In case of oral poisoning at the prehospital stage, gastric lavage and the introduction into the stomach of 80-100 g of an aqueous suspension of activated carbon, which has a high sorption capacity for most plant poisons, are of primary importance.

In the order of self-help and mutual assistance, the patient is offered to drink 1-2 glasses of warm water with table salt (¹/ 2 teaspoons per glass of water) and cause vomiting. This procedure is repeated 3-4 times. As a sorbent, 80-100 g of black crackers or a tableted sorbent - carbolen (4-5 tablets) can be used. Then you can give a laxative - 30 g of magnesium sulfate inside.

Prevention of acute poisoning with plant poisons consists in the steady implementation of the following rules:

do not eat unfamiliar plants and mushrooms;
do not eat well-known cultivated plants (potatoes, cereals, buckwheat, peas, etc.) that have been improperly stored or overwintered in the field;
do not take home-made herbal tinctures without the consent of a doctor;
do not spontaneously increase the dose of the tincture prescribed by the doctor and prepared in the pharmacy;
do not allow children, especially younger ones, to pick mushrooms and berries on their own, without adult supervision;
do not trust your life and health to persons without special medical education who offer "miraculous" medicines made from plants for the treatment of diseases.

Author: Mikhailov L.A.

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