Sunday, 11 September 2011

SPURGES - euphorbia

Toxicity: High. It affects mainly to the digestive apparatus, to the kidneys and the liver, producing considerable irritations in people that ingest the latex, being able to be deadly if the ingested quantity is high.

Symptoms: Digestive disorders, such as stomachache, nausea, vomiting that can go together with blood, diarrhea, breathing difficulty and heart failure.

In external use, the contact with the skin can produce dermatitis as a result of being in contact with the plant or because of prolonged exposition to the sun after having been in contact with the juice, so its latex should be avoided, specially to the eyes to avoid ocular irritations, even blindness.

There have been some cases of animals intoxicated when eating grass that contained dry spurge . Recent investigations suggest that there are possible indications that animals that have been fed with forage containing plants of the gender " Euphorbia " can bear a risk of transmitting possible tumors to the humans that feed on them, because of diperten toxicity.

Treatment : Vomitives , gastric lavage and emollients administration.