An epidemiological survey of drug poisoning and a comparison with other poisonings cases admitted to a university hospital in Gorgan, Iran, 2008-2015

Background and aims: Acute drug poisoning is a major public health problem in the world.The aim of this study was to investigate the trends and characteristics of acute drug poisoning and to compare that with other poisonings in Gorgan, Iran. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done from March 2008 to march 2015. Data were obtained from medical records. Stata software and Pearson's chi-squared test were used for data analysis. Results: A total of 800 poisoning cases, 573 cases were due to drug poisoning. The majority of the 573 patients (50.8 male) were in the age range of 20-29 years (47.8) and 78 of them were living in urban areas. The maximum number of poisoning occurred during summer season (27). The most common agents involved in acute drug poisoning were sedatives-hypnotics drugs, especially BZDs (37.2), followed by Tramadol (17.3) and Cardiac drugs (13.1). Poisoning most commonly occurred as ingestion of single drug (55). More than half (77.1) of the cases were intentional poisoning (suicide), followed by overdose (63.1), drug abuse (51.9) and accidental poisoning (17.3). Moreover, the most common drug involved in intentional poisoning was BZDs (44).9 patients (1.6) died, of which 3(33.3) were due to Narcotic drugs. Conclusion: Drugs were the most common cause of poisonings and the majority of acute drug poisoning in Gorgan was associated with suicide attempts. So, easy access to the most prominent methods of suicide i.e. consumption of drugs particularly BZDs should be restricted

Acaricidal and repellent activities of essential oil of<em> Eucalyptus globulus </em>against <em>Dermanyssus gallinae (Acari: Mesostigmata</em>)

Introduction: By considering an increase in drug resistance against red mites, finding the nonchemical herbal acaricide against Dermanyssus gallinae (De Geer) (Acari: Mesostigmata) is necessary to kill them and to reduce the chemical resistance against chemical acaricides in this specie. Dermanyssus gallinae is a potential vector of the causal agent of several viral diseases such as Equine encephalitis and St. Louis encephalitis. It can be a vector of bacteria such as Salmonella spp., Mycobacterium spp. and Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae. It is also known to cause itching dermatosis in humans. In this study acaricidal and repellent activities of essential oil of Eucalyptus globulus against Dermanyssus gallinae were studied. Methods: After extracting the essential oil, different concentrations of the plant extract were prepared. Then, acaricidal effect of different concentrations was tested on poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae, by dropping 3-4 drops of essential oil on mites. Repellent activity of essential oil was tested by Y-tube olfactometer bioassay. After the test, total number of killed and repellent mites reported. Results: Concentration of 1:2 or 50 had more acaricidal effect on mites. Also essential oil of Eucalyptus globulus had repellent activity against red mites. Conclusion: This study showed that essential oil of Eucalyptus globulus had acaricidal and repellent activities against red mites. Hence it might be used as a herbal acaricide against it to kill and to reduce the chemical resistance in this specie.</p