TIRUCHY: Rat poison consumption cases have consumed the district. Although police have been coming down on shops selling the poison, 10 cases are reported in the district every month on an average. In a similar case on Wednesday, 26-year-old Nithya of Thuraiyur over a recent tiff with her husband allegedly gave rat poison to her one-month-old daughter and tried to kill herself too by consuming the poison too.
The newborn baby died on the spot, whereas Nithya, who is in a critical condition, has been admitted in Tiruchy GH.
Among other rodent-poison, a specific type of phosphorus-based poisonous paste is popular in Tiruchy. Even a drop of it is said to be lethal. Since the particular poison has no antidote, only 5 per cent of the patients were saved by the hospitals.”
We are treating 10 patients or more on an average per month at MGMGH. The mortality rate is much higher for rat poison cases. As the poison contains yellow phosphorus, it will directly affect the liver according to the volume of consumption. Since there is no antidote, the patient has to either undergo Charcoal-hemoperfusion or has to be treated with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to prevent liver damage,” said, Dr Vanitha, dean of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital. She added that despite consuming the poison by accident the patient won’t have any external symptom for the first two days. But later the patient might vomit as a primary symptom and following that may experience severe blood clotting and collapse.
If the patient is not treated in the first two days, the patient will die. She also said that such dangerous products must be banned from regular home usage. In the previous year, about 50 cases were reported in the whole year but the number has doubled this year.