Paraquat lung
Key points
- Paraquat lung is a lung disease caused by the weed killer Paraquat (dipyridylium).
- Paraquat is a weed killer once promoted by the United States for use in Mexico to destroy marijuana plants.
- Treatment There is no specific treatment for Paraquat poisoning.
- The affected person may develop mild breathing-related symptoms with full recovery, or they may have permanent changes in the lungs, or if the person received a large dose at once (as with ingestion), death may occur.
Definition
Paraquat lung is a lung disease caused by the weed killer Paraquat (dipyridylium).
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Paraquat is a weed killer once promoted by the United States for use in Mexico to destroy marijuana plants. Research found that this herbicide was dangerous both to workers who applied it to the plants and to people who smoked the marijuana harvested from them.
Paraquat is now banned in the United States, although it is still legal for some uses in Mexico. As most marijuana smoked in the U.S. is now domestically grown, the risk of paraquat lung to American marijuana smokers is minimal.
Paraquat may cause lung damage by inhalation, it may cause esophageal erosions or ulcers from ingestion and absorption through the gut, or it can cause skin breakdown through contact with intact skin.
Severe ingestion of Paraquat can rapidly cause death from respiratory failure due to a form of proliferative alveolitis, or inflammation of the air spaces in the lungs. This impairs oxygen transport to the blood and may lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Administering oxygen to improve the blood oxygen level may actually increase the damage to the lung in such cases of ARDS. Chronic exposure to Paraquat, may cause pulmonary fibrosis, or a stiffening of the lung tissue.
Paraquat may also damage the kidneys, liver, mouth, and esophagus. Death may occur from perforation of the esophagus, or from acute inflammation of the mediastinum, the area that encases major blood vessels and airways in the middle of the chest.
Symptoms
- Shortness of breath
- difficulty breathing
- breathing requires increasing effort
- sore throat
- Vomiting or GI distress
Signs and tests
- history of exposure to Paraquat
- history of marijuana Smoking in the 1970's
Tests:
- arterial blood gasses (abnormal results)
Written and revised by
David Cohen, M.D.
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