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. 2015 Jan 25;23(1):8.
doi: 10.1186/s40199-015-0090-0.

Fatal aluminum phosphide poisonings in Tirana (Albania), 2009 - 2013

Zihni Sulaj, Alert Drishti, Irena Çeko, Amarda Gashi, Gentian Vyshka  1
Affiliations

Fatal aluminum phosphide poisonings in Tirana (Albania), 2009 - 2013

Zihni Sulaj et al. Daru. .

Abstract

Background: Acute poisonings particularly through pesticides have become a major public health concern in Albania during the last decade.

Findings: The number of fatalities due to aluminum phosphide intoxications was more than doubled during a five year-period from 2009 to 2013, and a cluster of suicides perpetrated with Phostoxin was registered. Several factors are accountable for such a phenomenon, including the fact that aluminum phosphide agents are freely available in the Albanian market, their price is extremely low and they are sold without any legal restriction. The mass media unfortunately warranted an emulating effect to dramatic intoxications, which gained by such means the notoriety of a secure lethal weapon.

Conclusions: Our experience with more than three hundred intoxications with aluminum phosphide agents in the last five years, showed that a considerable delay from the moment of exposure (mainly through ingestion) to specialized medical help seeking, created a considerable obstacle for a successful treatment of cases, and eventually for the survival of patients. The lack of a specific antidote adds further challenges to all these exposures. The need for public health policies aiming at prevention, awareness, and possibly the substitution of Phostoxin or other aluminum phosphide pesticides with less dangerous agents is formulated.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Right insert; dark-brown tablets of Phostoxin. Middle and left insert; other forms of the same product freely sold in the Albanian market.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic drawing of the data summarized in the Table 2 will suggest an increasing number of fatalities, in an otherwise stable total population of the city in study (Tirana), as well as of the totality of admissions due to AIP intoxications.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of fatalities during the years of the study, and the gender differences (M – males; F- females, T-Total) that have become visible only during 2012 and 2013, with a female preponderance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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