Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report

Khat is a drug widely used in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Khat leaves contain, among other substances, the psychoactive alkaloid cathinone, which induce central nervous system stimulation leading to euphoria, hyperactivity, restlessness, and insomnia. However, it also could cause p...

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Main Authors:	Wewalka, Marlene, Drolz, Andreas, Staufer, Katharina, Scherzer, Thomas M., Fuhrmann, Valentin, Zauner, Christian
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2011
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4010028/

id	pubmed-4010028
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-40100282014-05-06 Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report Wewalka, Marlene Drolz, Andreas Staufer, Katharina Scherzer, Thomas M. Fuhrmann, Valentin Zauner, Christian Case Report Khat is a drug widely used in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Khat leaves contain, among other substances, the psychoactive alkaloid cathinone, which induce central nervous system stimulation leading to euphoria, hyperactivity, restlessness, and insomnia. However, it also could cause psychological adverse effects such as lethargy, sleepiness, psychoses, and depression necessitating pharmacologic treatment. Here we report the case of a 35-year-old man from Somalia who became unconscious and developed aspiration pneumonia and subsequent ARDS after excessive consumption of khat leaves. His unconsciousness was possibly caused by the sleepiness developed after khat consumption and a benzodiazepine intake by the patient himself. Thus, khat-induced adverse effects should not primarily be treated pharmacologically, but patients should be urged to quit khat consumption in order to eliminate or, at least, reduce the severity of present psychological adverse effects. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2011 2011-07-24 /pmc/articles/PMC4010028/ /pubmed/24804115 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/291934 Text en Copyright © 2011 Marlene Wewalka et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Wewalka, Marlene Drolz, Andreas Staufer, Katharina Scherzer, Thomas M. Fuhrmann, Valentin Zauner, Christian
spellingShingle	Wewalka, Marlene Drolz, Andreas Staufer, Katharina Scherzer, Thomas M. Fuhrmann, Valentin Zauner, Christian Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report
author_facet	Wewalka, Marlene Drolz, Andreas Staufer, Katharina Scherzer, Thomas M. Fuhrmann, Valentin Zauner, Christian
author_sort	Wewalka, Marlene
title	Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report
title_short	Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report
title_full	Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report
title_fullStr	Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report
title_full_unstemmed	Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report
title_sort	development of ards after excessive kath consumption: a case report
description	Khat is a drug widely used in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Khat leaves contain, among other substances, the psychoactive alkaloid cathinone, which induce central nervous system stimulation leading to euphoria, hyperactivity, restlessness, and insomnia. However, it also could cause psychological adverse effects such as lethargy, sleepiness, psychoses, and depression necessitating pharmacologic treatment. Here we report the case of a 35-year-old man from Somalia who became unconscious and developed aspiration pneumonia and subsequent ARDS after excessive consumption of khat leaves. His unconsciousness was possibly caused by the sleepiness developed after khat consumption and a benzodiazepine intake by the patient himself. Thus, khat-induced adverse effects should not primarily be treated pharmacologically, but patients should be urged to quit khat consumption in order to eliminate or, at least, reduce the severity of present psychological adverse effects.
publisher	Hindawi Publishing Corporation
publishDate	2011
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4010028/
_version_	1612085355503157248

Development of ARDS after Excessive Kath Consumption: A Case Report

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