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Fungicides

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Critical Care Toxicology

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Abstract

Fungicides are a diverse group of structurally unrelated compounds that are widely used for agricultural, industrial, and domestic purposes. As a group, fungicides are responsible for a small proportion of human toxic exposures leading to acute morbidity and mortality. In 2013, regional poison control centers across the United States reported 1,054 cases of fungicide-related toxicities. Of these, only three cases reported life-threatening or disabling outcomes, and no deaths were reported [1]. Despite these findings, fungicides are important from a historical as well as an international health perspective. Some of the most serious poisoning epidemics of the twentieth century have been attributed to accidental fungicide exposures. Lessons learned from these disasters have led to severe restrictions or the discontinuation of several classes of fungicides, such as methylmercury and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). Unfortunately even with these restrictions, the acute and chronic effects of some exposures continue to pose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR, USA

    Annette M. Lopez

  2. Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Daniel Sudakin

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  1. Annette M. Lopez
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  2. Daniel Sudakin
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Correspondence to Annette M. Lopez or Daniel Sudakin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Jeffrey Brent

  2. FDA, Office of New Drugs/Immediate Office, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

    Keith Burkhart

  3. Clinical Toxicology, St Thomas’ Hospital, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

    Paul Dargan

  4. Toxicology Associates, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Benjamin Hatten

  5. Medical Toxicological Intensive Care Unit, Lariboisiere Hospital, Paris-Diderot University, Paris, France

    Bruno Megarbane

  6. Toxicology Associates, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Robert Palmer

  7. Toxinology Department, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Julian White

Grading System for Levels of Evidence Supporting Recommendations in Critical Care Toxicology, 2nd Edition

  1. I

    Evidence obtained from at least one properly randomized controlled trial.

  2. II-1

    Evidence obtained from well-designed controlled trials without randomization.

  3. II-2

    Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case-control analytic studies, preferably from more than one center or research group.

  4. II-3

    Evidence obtained from multiple time series with or without the intervention. Dramatic results in uncontrolled experiments (such as the results of the introduction of penicillin treatment in the 1940s) could also be regarded as this type of evidence.

  5. III

    Opinions of respected authorities, based on clinical experience, descriptive studies and case reports, or reports of expert committees.

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Lopez, A.M., Sudakin, D. (2017). Fungicides. In: Brent, J., et al. Critical Care Toxicology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17900-1_141

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