THE ANALYSIS OF EXPOSURES TO NATURAL XENOBIOTICS RECORDED BY HACETTEPE DRUG AND POISON INFORMATION UNIT BETWEEN 2005 AND 2014

Abstract

In this survey, the calls regarding exposures to natural xenobiotics suspected by callers as intoxications were analyzed. In this context, plants, mushrooms, venomous and nonvenomous animals and natural oils were included. The percentage of those exposures to total poisoning calls was 5.7. The mostly offending group of natural xenobiotics was found as animals with 50.0 % including scorpions (25.6% of all animals), snakes (22.0%), and wasps (9.8%). As mushrooms were counted as plants, plants group (46.6 % of all naturals) contained mainly mushrooms (46.1 %) and secondly diffenbachia (10.5%) exposures. Annual ditribution showed a decline in animal bites / stings in overall poisoning calls. Victims were mainly adults both in animal group (67.1 %) and plant ingestions including “mad honey” (55.6 %). The ratio of female to male was found almost equally in overall natural exposures. Major mode of poisoning was accidental (85.3 %) in all natural exposures, however a few medication errors also reported in plants group (11.1 %). Physicians dominated as callers of the cases totally with a percentage of 65. Between 2005 and 2014 period no mortality due to natural xenobiotic exposures was recorded by Hacettepe Drug and Poison Informatioın Unit.