Baptisia poisoning: a new and toxic look-alike in the neighborhood.
J Emerg Med
; 48(1): 39-42, 2015 Jan.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25453859
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Baptisia is commonly found in residential gardens as an ornamental plant, in municipal "rain gardens" for water control, as well as in native and restored prairie habitat. Cytisine, an alkaloid with nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist properties, is a component of Baptisia. CASE REPORT Two patients poisoned after simultaneously ingesting Baptisia plant material are presented. In addition to findings of generalized nicotinic agonist toxicity, including generalized weakness and gastrointestinal symptoms, profound ataxia was present in both, consistent with recently described nicotinic subunit activity in the cerebellum. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS? Baptisia, a native prairie plant commonly found in restored prairie habitats and public spaces, has striking "look-alike" characteristics, in its immature state, to asparagus. As future exposures by foraging citizens will be likely, awareness of this relationship and the toxic manifestations of cytisine will be useful.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Nicotinic Agonists
/
Alkaloids
/
Fabaceae
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
Limits:
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
J Emerg Med
Journal subject:
MEDICINA DE EMERGENCIA
Year:
2015
Document type:
Article