Hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid or cyanogen

Hydrocyanic acid is a vegetable acid found in many fruits and leaves such as almond, apricot, apple, cheery, peach, plum, pear, and in certain oils and besns where it exists as a glucoside amygdalin. The pure acid is colorless, transparent volatile liquid with an odor like bitter almonds and is rapidly decomposed by exposure to light

Route :
Inhalation, ingestion, ingestion through skin
Fatal Dose :
50 to 60mg of pure acid, 200 to 300mg of sodium or potassium cyanide
Fatal Period :
2 to 10 minutes
Mechanism of action :
•Cyanide inhibits the action of various enzymes of various enzymes.
• Cyanides act by reducing the oxygen carrying capacity of blood.
•There is interference with with intracellular oxidative process in tissues

Clinical Picture :
This is the most rapid of all poisons.
•CNS: headache, vertigo, perspiration, anxiety, convulsions, paralysis
•GIT: bitter, acid, burning taste, constriction or numbness of throat
•RS: odor of bitter almonds in breath. Initially tachypnoea and dyspnoea. Later rapid slowing of respiratory rate with severe respiratory depression and cyanosis
•CVS: Initially hypertension, later tachycardia with hypotension
•Glassy and prominent eyes with dilated pupils, unreactive

Treatment :
•Treatment should be started immediately
•The principle of treatment is to reverse the cyanide – cytochrome combination.

Hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid or cyanogen

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