Potato & Mushroom Poisoning

If you study the botanical origin of potato, you would find that it belongs to the group of plants, the stems and leaves of which contain toxic agents termed as solanines. The botanical name of potato is Solanum tuberosum and it belongs to the family Solanaceae. Solanines are known to cause poisoning in cattle eating the potato plant. The tuber (potato) itself also contains small amounts of poisonous material called solanines in its peels. You must have seen that storage of potatoes leads to greening and sprouting. Both these processes lead to the production of poisonous material around the 'sprouting eyes' and also inside the flesh of potatoes. Sprouting and green potatoes taste bitter due to the presence of solanines and should not be consumed. Sometimes, people who are unaware of the poisonous nature of green and sprouting potatoes; eat these and develop poisoning symptoms. The onset of potato poisoning symptoms occurs some 4 to 12 hours after its consumption. The abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea are predominant symptoms of potato poisoning. Mild headache and fever have also been reported in some cases. Severe potato poisoning may also lead to a state of coma.

Be cautious while eating potato products. The treatment of potato poisoning is always symptomatic; loss of fluids and electrolytes have to be replaced orally with oral rehydration powder dissolved in water or intravenously in cases of severe dehydration. Use of antibiotics should be avoided in known cases of potato poisoning. An average general practitioner may miss the diagnosis of potato poisoning and pass of the case as a common case of 'gastroenteritis'. The potato poisoning may be severe form of food poisoning in students eating midday meal from the common kitchen at schools, as the kitchen staff generally overlook the quality of potatoes received by them.

Mushroom poisoning is also presented with abdominal pain, vomiting and profuse diarrhoea after latent phase of around 12 hours or more. Severe mushroom poisoning may also lead to liver and kidney failure within 3 to 4 days after the development of vomiting and diarrhoea. Some of the mushrooms, e.g. Amanita phalloides are so poisonous that consumption of one mushroom is sufficient to cause severe poisoning and three mushrooms could be considered a fetal dose. With the cultivation of mushrooms being taken up by the trained personals, the cases of mushroom poisoning have come down. Only those who collect and eat wild mushrooms fall prey to mushroom poisoning due to lack of knowledge about the identifying features of poisonous mushrooms. Knowledge is the key to care and maintenance of health. Never eat green or sprouting potatoes and wild mushrooms to save yourselves from potato poisoning or mushroom poisoning.

Methyl Alcohol Poisoning: Management Tips

Successful management of methyl alcohol poisoning requires prompt recognition. The most important therapeutic action is to correct the metabolic acidosis quickly. Methyl alcohol or methanol is an industrial solvent and widely used as paint thinner, paint remover, nail-polish remover and as a denaturant in ethyl alcohol. The poisoning due to methyl alcohol occurs due to consumption of rectified spirit or methylated spirit or illicit distilled ethyl alcohol. Methanol is completely absorbed within 3-4 hours of ingestion. After absorption the methanol is metabolized in the liver by the action of alcohol dehydrogenase to form formaldehyde and formic acid. Some of the ingested methanol is eliminated unchanged by the kidneys and lungs.

Ingestion of more than 30 ml of methanol/methyl alcohol is lethal, but the extent of toxicity may be influenced by concomitant ingestion of ethyl alcohol and other unknown host factors. A blood level of methanol of 20mg/dl is toxic. Severity of toxicity correlates with the level of methanol in blood. The variability in the development of methanol toxicity may be due to various liver diseases and availability and synthesis of alcohol dehydrogenase.

Symptoms of methanol poisoning after illicit alcohol consumption:

A person suspected of having consumed pure methanol or rectified spirit, industrial solvent/thinner, nail-polish remover or illicit distilled alcohol may complain of abdominal discomfort and pain, breathlessness, cardiac arrhythmia and blurred vision. If medical help is delayed the patient may go blind with delayed onset of coma.

Tips to manage methanol poisoning:

If the patient is not unconscious, try to know the type of alcoholic drink he/she has consumed. The patient should be shifted to emergency wing of a nearby hospital immediately. If the patient has consumed pure methanol, he/she should be encouraged to take around 4 oz of brandy or whisky to retard the metabolism as the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase has more affinity for ethyl alcohol than the methyl alcohol. An assay of methanol blood levels can help to confirm the diagnosis, however, a patient having consumed a doubtful solvent and having metabolic acidosis and burred vision, should be considered a case of methanol poisoning and treated accordingly. Liver function tests along with blood pH and urine analysis should be done. The patient should be put on hemodialysis or promptly referred to a hospital where facilities for hemodialysis are available. Any arrhythmia, heart failure, convulsions or shock need urgent medical attention. If more than 4 hours have elapsed since ingestion and patient do not have arrhythmia and blurred vision, gastric lavage should be performed with sodium bicarbonate solution until the return fluid is clear of methanol. Patient should be kept under observation till considerable metabolic recovery.