Question

Police brought a person from the railway track with features of a dry, dilated pupil, dry skin, slurring of speech, and altered sensorium. The poisoning is?

• A. Morphine
• B. Cannabis
• C. Datura
• D. Alcohol

Hint:

In cases of suspected anticholinergic poisoning, Datura should be considered, especially if the patient exhibits classic signs like dry skin and dilated pupils.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Build the toxidrome from the signs.
List the findings: dry skin, dilated (mydriatic) pupils, slurred speech and altered sensorium. In clinical toxicology, "dry as a bone, blind as a bat (dilated pupils), mad as a hatter (altered mentation)" is the recognisable fingerprint of an anticholinergic toxidrome.

Step 2: Confirm the pattern is anticholinergic, not something else.
Dry secretions plus mydriasis specifically indicate blockade of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors: sweat glands stop secreting (dry, warm skin) and the pupillary sphincter is paralysed (dilated pupils). The CNS effects (confusion, slurring) round out central antimuscarinic action.

Step 3: Pick the agent that produces this toxidrome.
Among the choices, Datura is the anticholinergic plant - its seeds contain atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which block muscarinic receptors and reproduce exactly this dry-skin, dilated-pupil, delirious picture.

Step 4: Cross off the inconsistent poisons.
• Morphine (opioid) causes the opposite eye sign - pinpoint (constricted) pupils - plus respiratory depression.
• Cannabis may cause altered sensorium and red conjunctivae, but not dry skin with frank mydriasis.
• Alcohol causes slurred speech and altered sensorium, yet lacks the dry skin and dilated pupils that define the anticholinergic state.
Only Datura accounts for the complete set.

Final answer: The poisoning is Option 3 - Datura.