Atractylis gummifera poisoning in a pregnant woman

Atractylis gummifera is poisonous and its ingestion causes illness, characterized principally by hepatorenal injury, often fatal. The toxicity of this plant to the fetus is not known. We report a case of poisoning during pregnancy. A 28 year-old woman was admitted to our intensive care unit for Atractylis gummifera poisoning during her 24th week of pregnancy. She showed gastrointestinal symptoms, impaired consciousness, hypoglycemia, hepatic cytolysis and decreased factor V blood levels. The mother recovered after symptomatic treatment. A healthy boy was delivered vaginally at 39 weeks and his clinical findings and laboratory results were normal at birth and a week later. Poisoning by Atractylis gummifera has not previously been reported during pregnancy. The favorable course of our patient and her infant do not rule out possible fetal damage from which he recovered, as his mother did.