© 2020 Scholars Academic Journal of Pharmacy | Published by SAS Publishers, India 155 Scholars Academic Journal of Pharmacy Abbreviated Key Title: Sch Acad J Pharm ISSN 2347-9531 (Print) | ISSN 2320-4206 (Online) Journal homepage: http://saspublishers.com/sajp/ General Principles, Types, Diagnosis and Management of Poisoning Chinmay Devidas Deshmukh * , Anil Tukaram Pawar Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Dr. Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University, Kothrud, Pune-411038, Maharashtra, India DOI: 10.36347/sajp.2020.v09i05.001 | Received: 27.04.2020 | Accepted: 09.05.2020 | Published: 23.05.2020 *Corresponding author: Chinmay Devidas Deshmukh Abstract Review Article Poisoning is the last consequence of drug action that is harmful to the body. It may be due to overdose or prolonged use of a drug. Any substance that causes deleterious, unwanted and harmful effects on the body is called poison. Poisoning can be acute or chronic. Short time exposure of poison is called acute poisoning whereas repeated, long term or continuous is called chronic poisoning. In chronic poisoning, symptoms may not be seen after each exposure and may be seen after a long period. Poison can cause effects when they are orally taken, injected, swallowed, inhaled or even rubbed on the skin. Commonly observed poisons are pesticides, organophosphates, carbon monoxide, heavy metals, certain plants such as Datura, Cannabis, opium, etc. All of the drugs acting on the nervous system, cardiovascular system, peripheral nervous system, urinary system, and reproductive system can turn to poisons if used in excess quantity. Almost all categories of drugs are involved in one or other forms of toxic effects depending on the dose. Briefly, all drugs in excess can cause poisoning. The effect of poisoning is ranging from short term illness such as rash, diarrhea, seizures, dilated pupils, nausea to long term complications such as organ damage, coma or even death. Poisoning can be accidental, homicidal or suicidal. The diagnosis of poisoning is based on assessing clinical features history, physical examination and toxicological screening. Such toxic effects must be carefully monitored and treated immediately to save the life of a patient. Assessing the symptoms of poisoning, providing life support to maintain vital signs, elimination of poison, preventing further exposure of poison, and use of the antidotes are the basic principles of management of toxicity. With this background, it becomes essential and interesting to elaborate on the detailed study of poisoning and its management. The present review is therefore planned to know the types, nature, principle, diagnosis, effects and general management of poisoning. Keywords: Poisoning, Datura, Cannabis, Homicidal, Opium. Copyright @ 2020: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION It has been documented that 1 million illnesses are due to poison. The incidence of poison in India is among the highest in the world. In India, due to toxic exposure, more than 50,000 people die every year. Commonest member in India which causes poisoning are pesticides (chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphates, carbamates, aluminium/zinc phosphide) sedatives, alcohol, plant toxins (datura, oleander, strychnos), chemicals (corrosive acids and copper sulfate), venomous animals, and household cleaning agents [1]. A poison is a substance that is harmful to life as it affects one or more vital functions of the body. Poisoning is an adverse effect from a chemical or drug that is taken in excess. A dose is that which distinguishes a drug from poison. The causes of poisoning are civilian, industrial, accidental or planned [2]. In most of the cases, our body tolerates or detoxifies the amount of harmful chemical which we have ingested, but if the peak is reached then the body shows certain toxic symptoms. Poisoning can produce minor to moderate local and systemic effects that can be easily treated in the outpatient clinic but sometimes it may also result in severe reactions that require intensive medical intervention. The highly potent drugs can turn toxic with even small doses [3]. The diagnosis of toxic reaction is based on a wide variety of patient’s clinical symptoms. Different drugs display different symptoms [1]. The branch of medicine which deals with the study of detection, clinical features, types, diagnosis of poison and treatment of poisoning is called toxicology and the person trained in this stream is called toxicologist [4]. The poisoning is the major cause of death everywhere although type and morbidity vary among the poisons. Death occurring due to poisoning is regarded as unnatural death and to confirm it medico-legal autopsy (postmortem) is routine practice [5]. The children are more curious about the household things and they accidently ingest them. This causes poisoning [6]. The Pharmacology