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Insecticide Spray Syndrome

Tushar Sahasrabudhe

All the patients reporting with prolonged cough were asked for the history of household exposure to insecticide spray for cockroaches or mosquitoes, prior to the onset of their illness. Data of 31 patients could be collected whose symptoms correlated with exposure to insecticide sprays. All the 31 patients had sprayed the insecticide themselves and worked or slept in the same room for many hours after the spraying. The onset of symptoms was on the same or the next day of the exposure. In 22/31 patients; the illness began with laryngeal symptoms. The cough started within 1-3 days in all patients. 26/31 (83.87%) patients had minimal or no sputum. 10/31 (32.26%) patients had central retrosternal chest pain. 16/31 (51.61%) patients had wheezing out of which only 3 had prior history of wheezing. Fever was typically absent. The symptoms lingered for average 5.77 weeks. There was no response to antibiotics but steroid therapy lead to rapid relief from the symptoms. The syndrome appears to be a laryngotracheobronchitis. This is purely an observational study and there is a strong circumstantial evidence that suggests the causative association. Further studies are warranted to study the correlation, incidence and mechanisms responsible for this syndrome.