An analysis of a suicide case by ingestion of carbofuran

Abstract

Carbofuran is a kind of carbamate pesticide with a high toxicity. In this report, we describe a suicide case using carbofuran involving two patients who were poisoned and rescued at the same time. However, two days later, one died and the other was saved. Carbofuran concentration and furan phenole concentration have been determined in biological samples. Based on the data analysis, we suggest that the concentration of carbofuran in blood is a vital factor for successful rescue, and the interval between 2.53 μg/ml and 3.23 μg/ml should be considered as the threshold of successful rescue for adults. We also find that carbofuran has a rapid metabolism in vivo after intake, and blind spots existed in the clinical rescue of carbofuran poisoning.

Keywords:

• carbofuran
• furan phenol
• gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
• biological samples
• metabolism