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Poisonous Datura Leaf mistaken as Spinach

14 year old girl  and her grandmother accidentally consumes Datura leaf which was prepared by her grandmother who mistook it for green spinach, due to an uncanny resemblance. 14 year old Mariya Shaji who had visited her Grandmother’s house had a nightmarish experience, when she and her grandmother accidentally consumed Datura leaves mistaking it to be spinach.

Lockdown has generated a lot of interest among people, of growing vegetables within each household and one such leisure interest turned fatal for a Vazhakulam based family. Datura leaves which overgrew around a vegetable garden of Green Spinach was the villain in this case. The grandmother as an usual practice plucked datura leaves instead of the edible spinach grown in her household and cooked a curry for lunch, at that time she was accompanied by her husband who was bedridden. Shortly after consuming the curry she showed signs of uneasiness, vomitting and hallucinating, immediately the neighbours alerted her children (Mariya Shaji’s parents), as the grandfather was bedridden, Mariya Shaji was left at home and  parents took her grandmother to a nearby hospital.

Later that day, around afternoon Mariya who was, hungry consumed the same spinach curry which her grandmother had made, and she showed the same signs of uneasiness, again the neighbours intervened and took her to Rajagiri Hospital,  On arrival at, Rajagiri, she showed symptoms of encephalitis or meningitis, which  included fever, hallucinations, psychosis, convulsions and dilated pupils etc. The doctors enquired regarding the parents of Mariya Shaji to the neighbours who brought her to hospital, they informed the doctor that her grandmother had been hospitalized with similar symptoms in a nearby hospital and her parents are with them. Dr Bipin Jose, Consultant,Pediatrics and Dr Julius, Consultant Emergency Medicine further enquired on the food they consumed before they were hospitalised and it was revealed that they had consumed spinach curry. Subsequent investigations revealed grandmother mistook Datura leaf as spinach. Meanwhile doctors did stomach wash and also used activated charcoal to absorb the poison during the stomach wash procedure. Within two days she was discharged from the hospital after her condition improved. Dr. Julius, Consultant, Emergency Department,  and Dr. Bipin Jose, Consultant, Pediatrics Department, Rajagiri Hospital led the treatment. 

The leaves of Datura Inoxia, commonly known as devil’s weed or Ummam are similar to the leaves of green spinach. “Datura grew widely across Kerala and all parts of the plant are toxic and can have serious and sometimes fatal effects on humans ”-said Dr. Bipin Jose. During the COVID-19 lockdown, many families in Kerala are growing green leaves and other edibles around their houses and made various dishes with them. However, the doctor pointed out that not all such plants are edible and the use of such harmful plants can cause great damage. There was a similar case in 2017, which actually helped Dr Bipin identify the cause immediately. Here he insisted the neighbors to bring a sample of the leaf that was used for cooking the curry.Mariya Shaji’s Grandfather was averted from this fatality because he was bedridden and was on nasal feed.

 
09 Jun 2021 Back

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