Homemade Pesticides Fatality File

Fatal Poisoning by Terbufos following Occupational Exposure

Case report

A 43-year-old female farmer was transported to the state emergency department (ED) following a 3-h application of TBF. She was suffering from a headache, dizziness, tightness of chest, dyspnea, and progressive diaphoresis accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and an altered level of consciousness. Upon arrival (approximately 30 min later), she became unconscious and suffered a respiratory arrest.

On physical examination, she was pale, salivating, and diaphoretic, with miotic, non-responsive pupils, and with an intense odor of pesticide emanating from her clothing. Vital signs were undetectable. She was pronounced dead 1 h later despite intensive resuscitation efforts.

Further history indicated that the patient’s main task that morning had been mixing and scattering TBF pesticide granules, while her co-workers applied a pesticide-free fertilizer. The TBF was in the form of 5% (active ingredient) granules (900 g per bag) with a violet appearance coloration and it was her first time using it. Twenty bags were mixed with coarse sand and scattered on fields of peanuts (an area of about 0.33 hectares) manually. She complained about the pungent odor during the application. After 3 h, she developed a headache, dizziness, tightness of chest, nausea and began to vomit and returned home.

The other workers did not suffer any unusual symptoms. When discovered, some 30 min later, she was noted to be lethargic and was then transported to the ED. Per report, as personal protective equipment (PPE), the patient had been using a bandana as an improvised “mask”, torn rubber gloves and boots. Additionally, she had been wearing a short-sleeved shirt because of the warm weather, about 30°C.

Source: https://www.researchgate.net