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.

Amoebiasis: Bowel amoebiasis and spread of infection to liver and lungs

The organism that causes amoebiasis is a unicellular parasite called Entamoeba histolytica. A variety of clinical presentations are seen. Though the disease is not a major health problem but in serious forms of amoebiasis, significant morbidity and mortality is unavoidable. We may have asymptomatic carriers of amoebic infection. On the other hand Entamoeba histolytica infection may result in fulminant dysentery with fever, diarrhoea, bleeding and even perforation of intestine. The organism can be identified in wet slide preparation of stool specimen obtained from infected patient.

The infection is transmitted by the faeco-oral route. The infection can be an asymptomatic one, that is, the victim could be in good health in-spite of harboring the Entamoeba histolytica infection. In severe cases of infection, Entamoeba histolytica can result in full-fledged frank dysentery along with colonic ulceration. Uncommonly, Entamoeba histolytica can invade organs other than large intestine. Liver is the second common site followed by lungs. The brain, genitals and the skin are other possible sites if infection by the amoeba. The majority of patients do not develop frank-dysentery, i.e. they do not develop diarrhoea with blood or mucus. Vague symptoms, such as discomfort in the tummy, irregularity of bowels, constipation, diarrhoea, griping and tenesmus occur in various combinations. In some cases, low grade fever, loss of weight, pallor, generalized non-specific aches and pains are common. The patient usually carries on his day-to day duties with sub-optimum health and efficiency.

The diagnosis of asymptomatic bowel amoebic infection can be established through repeated fresh stool microscopic examination. The sigmoidoscopic examination of ulcerative lesions of colon and microscopic examination of direct smears obtained from the ulcers would further confirm the diagnosis of amoebic ulcers. Invasion of liver by Entamoeba histolytica is the second commonest form of amoebiasis. The onset is usually insidious but an exceptionally rapid course can be seen during endemics of bowel amoebiasis. The presenting symptoms of liver amoebiasis are pain in the upper right quadrant of tummy, or fever or both. The presence of jaundice is very rare in patients with liver amoebiasis. Fever of uncertain origin is a common problem in many developing countries. One of the causes of the fever of uncertain origin could be amoebic infection of the liver.

The diagnosis of amoebic infection of the lungs and brain requires a high degree of expertise on the part of physician/clinician. The amoebic infection of brain is usually diagnosed at the operation table. Amoebic ulceration of skin is not very rare. Sophisticated techniques like serology and radio-isotopic scan can be of great help in establishing the diagnosis of amoebic abscess of liver, lung or brain. The treatment of amoebiasis is highly effective once a correct diagnosis has been made. Eradication or prevention of amoebiasis in any locality can be achieved only if there are optimum ways of sewage disposal and personal hygiene.