Acute organophosphorus poisoning

Acute organophosphorus poisoning continues to be a detrimental problem and a potential cause of mortality especially in developing countries. Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase enzyme is the main mechanism of toxicity of such pesticides and measurement of acetylcholinesterase activity is the commonly used laboratory diagnosis approved for the purpose. It is now proved beyond any doubt that early intervention is beneficial for cases of acute organophosphorus poisoning and, therefore, considerable current interest has been generated for development of point of care testing tool for screening of the same. However, to the best of our knowledge so far the matter is not reviewed from the view of point of care testing tool development. In this paper, this subject is reviewed highlighting the methodological aspects and point of care testing tool development in the context of organophosphorus poisoning. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.