PLANT EXPOSURES - A STATE PROFILE OF THE MOST COMMON SPECIES

Plant exposures are the fourth most common cause of poisoning and 86% of those exposures involve the pediatric population. The large number of plant-related exposures and the lack of knowledge about plant toxic ity has led to plant paranoia and considerable educational efforts to reduce the number of exposures. These efforts are often dictated by mi sconceptions and folklore. AAPCC TESS data on all plant exposures for the years 1985-1994 were electronically analyzed by plant species and state to establish a frequency distribution in the US. Aggregate natio nal data was also tabulated. A total of 912,534 plant exposures were a nalyzed to tabulate the top 30 plant exposures for each state. Philode ndron species were the most common exposures, followed by Dieffenbachi a species, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Capsicum annuum and Ilex species. Th ere were considerable differences between states relating to indoor vs outdoor plants and native vs introduced varieties. Plant exposures ar e common and poison information centers devote significant clinical se rvice and educational effort to manage them and to enhance public awar eness. Recognition of specific plant species and exposure frequency in a poison center region can be a basis for staff education and the dev elopment of appropriate poison prevention education brochures. This ca n direct better utilization of poison center's resources.