Paraquat poisoning: Case report of a survivor

N, N′-dimethyl-4, 4′-bipyridinium dichloride (paraquat) is a widely used synthetic, nonselective contact herbicide. Ingestion of toxic doses of paraquat can be fatal with life-threatening effects on the lungs, gastrointestinal (GI) tract, kidney, liver, heart, and other organs. Till date, there are no specific antidotes and none of the current treatments have proven efficacious. The prognosis is uniformly poor worldwide, including those who treat aggressively with multimodal therapies. Long-term survivors are few, and have GI and pulmonary complications. Hence, prevention needs to be the utmost priority, and on exposure, aggressive decontamination should be initiated. Although it is a very common herbicide, there are very few cases reported from India and awareness among people needs to be widened.