Acute Herbicide Poisoning: An Emerging Phenomenon in Himachal Pradesh, India

The clinical manifestations of acute herbicide self-poisoning have not been widely studied in India. The objective was to study the clinical profile of herbicide poisoning cases admitted in a medical college hospital located in a rural setting of Himachal Pradesh. The clinical records of all patients diagnosed with acute herbicide poisoning between January 1, 2017, and February 15, 2019, were analyzed retrospectively in this hospital-based cross-sectional study. During the study period, 20 patients were diagnosed with acute herbicide poisoning and are included in this study. There were 13 males. The mean age was 33.6 ± 13.3 years. The herbicides ingested included 2,4-D (45%), paraquat (20%), glyphosate (10%), pendimethalin (10%), atrazine (5%), butachlor (5%), and metribuzin (5%). 2,4-D is the commonest acute herbicide self-poisoning in this region. It was observed that poisoning with herbicides is usually of mild toxicity except paraquat, which is associated with high mortality.