Causes, Epidemiology, and Clinical Evaluation of Suspected Herbal Poisoning

Medicinal "herbs" in Asia include botanicals, minerals, and dried animal parts. Besides herbs used in Asia, many plant-based products known as phytopharmaceuticals are available in Europe, Australia, and other countries. These phytopharmaceuticals contain pharmacologically active ingredients that are similar to western drugs used in allopathic medicine and are used as adjunct or primary therapies. In Germany and France, phytopharmaceuticals are considered part of the mainstream medicine and many are covered by national health care insurance. This review will mainly discuss herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine but many of the toxicologic concepts are relevant to phytopharmaceuticals.