Dubai: Authorities have warned residents that symptoms of pesticide poisoning may be confused with that of food poisoning, and that anyone experiencing a sudden fit of vomiting and chest pain should immediately contact the food control and pest department.
Khalid Sharif, director of food control department at Dubai Municipality, on Wednesday announced that cases of pesticide poisoning cases usually occur in the summer when residents fumigate their homes against bedbugs and other pests.
“We need to develop an effective preventive system with the coordination of several concerned departments, and we should intensify our efforts to curb the illegal use of chemicals both by raising awareness and enforcing stringent measures,” he said.
The statement was made after an 11-year-old died last week and two families who lived in a Sharjah residential tower became ill after they were allegedly exposed to a toxic pesticide that was sprayed in their neighbour’s house.
Sharif explained that many poisoning cases that were first suspected to be food-related were eventually found to have been caused by the negligent use of pesticide.
“Previously, reported cases were initially diagnosed as food poisoning because it is hard to identify the source of the toxin based on clinical symptoms such as vomiting. And we normally blame the last meal as the suspected cause of illness,” he said.
Bobby Krishna, food control expert at the municipality, pointed out that deaths occur when neighbours are unaware of fumigation taking place and stay in their rooms. The exposure then leads to a severe onset of vomiting and even death, particularly among children who cannot tolerate even small levels of such lethal toxins.
“During the summer months, we would usually receive several notifications from hospitals regarding cases of suspected food poisoning, often with severe vomiting, among several members of the same family. But during our investigations, we found that there was nothing in the food history of the person that could be attributed to bacterial poisoning,” said Krishna.
The common reported symptoms included sudden onset of vomiting, chest burn and severe abdominal cramps.
“However, none of these cases had a fever or diarrhoea, which are classic symptoms of bacterial food poisoning or infections,” he said.
Basheer Hassan Yousuf, senior food safety specialist at the food control department, stressed that food poisoning cases would result in a large number of people getting ill, who have all eaten the same food from the same food outlet. “The number of chemical poisoning cases in Dubai has dropped to almost nil, and we have not had any reports this year. But, we still need to keep telling people not to use aluminium phosphide, commonly known as the bomb,” he added.
