Acaricide Poisoning and Newer Cocktails: A Review of Current Treatment Recommendations

Abstract

Acaricides are a group of compounds developed in the early 1960’s to combat infestations of ticks and mites among livestock and plants. These parasites, left unchecked, have been known to cause multiple diseases among the host animal or plant leading to debilitating illness, livestock deaths and crop failures. Some of these insects are also natural reservoirs for multiple zoonotic diseases, easily spread to humans leading to major disease outbreaks. As a result, many farmers and horticultural experts pushed for chemical controls of these pests, but with time, some of these parasites have developed resistance to single agent use, necessitating the development of chemical cocktails and newer agents for effective pest control.

These chemicals, when applied correctly, were relatively harmless to livestock and plants and did not linger in the environment, but with the development of chemical resistance, some “super acaricides” have much higher levels of toxicity and are much easier to be absorbed after exposure. In East Africa, most acaricides poisoning is found during accidental ingestion, such as ingestion by unknowing children, exposure following poor handling, as well as intentional ingestion seen in suicide attempts. Some of these super acaricides present a huge challenge in patient care as there is little information on these newfound cocktails and their effective clinical management.

We discuss the presentation of the common acaricides seen on the East African Market, common approaches and potential pitfalls seen in the management of acaricide poisoning in most patients as a guide for most emergency and critical care providers as well as emergency room clinicians.