ABSTRACT
The presentations of poisoning episodes do not always follow traditional “textbook” descriptions commonly listed for them. Signs and symptoms that are often said to be pathognomonic (characteristic) for a particular toxic episode may or may not be evident with each case of poisoning. Victims may even display behavior totally unexpected and largely unpredictable. An experimentally determined acute oral toxicity expression, such as an LD50 value, is not an absolute description of the compound’s toxicity in every individual. It neither assesses the inherent capacity of the compound to produce injurynor reflects the victim’s ability to respond in a manner other than predicted.
