Over the next two days he remained on the ventilator with frequent recurrence of pulmonary secretions. No atropine was administered. He suffered a prolonged hospital course with difficulty weaning from the ventilator. Administer pralidoxime early. Prolonged muscle weakness may be related to delayed therapy.
Spring is here and gardens are bustling with activity.
Flower beds, lawns, and vegetable patches are treated with fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. Of these, the organophosphate insecticides cause the vast majority of morbidity and mortality. Atropine and prolidoxime are the only antidotes for organophosphate poisoning. Organophosphates irreversibly inactivate acetylcholinesterase at the synaptic cleft. When acetylcholine is not broken down in a timely manner the patient develops signs of chloinergic excess.