Ethnobotanical, phytochemical and toxicological studies of Xanthium strumarium L.

The present study describes the ethnobotanical, phytochemical, and toxicological evaluations of Xanthium strumarium L. growing in Bangladesh. In toxicity evaluation on rats, the methanol extract of seedlings showed mortality, while both seedling and mature plant extracts raised the serum alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase values and produced significant abnormalities in the histopathology of liver and kidney of rats.

Fatal outbreak from consuming Xanthium strumarium seedlings during time of food scarcity in northeastern Bangladesh.

Background: An outbreak characterized by vomiting and rapid progression to unconsciousness and death was reported in Sylhet Distrct in northeastern Bangladesh following destructive monsoon floods in November 2007.

Methods And Findings: We identified cases presenting to local hospitals and described their clinical signs and symptoms. We interviewed patients and their families to collect illness histories and generate hypotheses about exposures associated with disease.