Citation

Achour S, Rhalem N, Khattabi A, Lofti H, Mokhtari A, Oulaymani A, Turcant A, Bencheikh RS. Therapie 2012; 67(1): 53-58.

Vernacular Title

L'intoxication au Peganum harmala L. au Maroc : a propos de 200 cas.

Affiliation

Unité de Toxicologie, Laboratoire Central d'Analyses Médicales, CHU Hassan II et Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Fès, Maroc - Faculté des Sciences, Université Ibn Tofail, Kenitra, Maroc.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, John Libbey Eurotext)

DOI

10.2515/therapie/2012003

PMID

22487503

Abstract

Peganum harmala L. is commonly used in traditional medicine in Morocco for its sedative and emmenagogue properties but expose to the risk of overdose and poisoning. The aim of our study was to analyze a series of 200 cases of poisoning collected in poison control and pharmacovigilance center of Morocco in order to describe the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic features and outcome of patients and indicate the toxicity of this plant used primarily for therapeutic purposes. Methods. This retrospective study performed over a period of twenty four years from January 1984 to December 2008. Results. The mean age of patients was 24.4±16.8 years with a female predominance (167 women against 33 men). Therapeutic circumstance was found in 32.5%, followed by suicide (28.5%) and abortion (13.5%). The symptomatology was dominated by neurological, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular signs respectively 34.4%, 31.9 % and 15.8%. The evolution has been specified in 114 cases, 7 deaths have been deplored with a fatality rate of 6.2%.

Language: fr