Successful Treatment of Nitrobenzene Poisoning with Oral Methylene Blue and Ascorbic Acid in a Resource Limited Setting

Abstract

Nitrobenzene as a weedicide is rarely being consumed as a means of suicide. Its combination with an organophosphorus compound poses additional dilemma in the diagnosis and treatment if the culprit poisons can not be identified accurately. The matter gets complicated in a resource poor setting in a developing country where even ideal medications are not available. A 55 year old male with a suicidal consumption of a cocktail of unknown substance was saved by alert diagnosis of methemoglobinemia followed by treatment with the laboratory preparation of locally available oral methylene blue and high dose oral ascorbic acid. The unnecessary need for the mechanical ventilation was judiciously avoided even in the setting of a persistently low pulse oximetry readings.