A man who drank a cup of tea ended up in hospital after it transpired that he had used highly toxic oleander leaves to make the drink. 

The health ministry said the incident – from 2021 – is one of two cases of hospitalisations due to oleander plant ingestion over the past five years. 

Cases of severe oleander poisoning or deaths are rare around the world, as the bitter plant deters people from sampling the highly toxic vegetation.

But the subject was recently tackled in an article published in the Malta Medical Journal that outlined the case. 

Its authors describe how a 23-year-old man was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital’s Emergency Department for vomiting, abdominal pain and feeling unwell. 

“Symptoms began 14 hours after ingestion of self-prepared ‘olive leaf’ tea. This was ingested to relieve the generalised pain caused by construction work, as part of a ritual,” the authors said.

The patient was alert but pale, lethargic and sweating heavily. A clinical toxicologist was contacted and tests carried out that supported the possibility of oleander poisoning.

Images of olive leaves and oleander leaves were shown to the patient, who identified the oleander leaves as the ‘olive leaves’. It came to light that he had not ingested olive leaf tea but an oleander extract. 

Authors Russell Bonnici Farrugia, Pierre Agius, Jeffrey Bonnici and Luke Zammit described how the man was initially treated with a medication called atropine, with almost-immediate resolution of the bradycardia (a slower than normal heart rate). However, his heart rate increased to 97 beats per minute within seconds, with recurrence of bradycardia after 30 minutes. This was followed by another atropine administration, with the same outcome.

After the link to the oleander tree was made, the man was treated with five vials of a specific type of antibody. The patient recovered following intravenous fluids and anti-nausea medication. 

His case was the second in five years, following another incident of poisoning in 2018.

The authors of the article, Toxic Tea, said people needed to be more aware of the toxicity of the common oleander plant.

All parts of the oleander plant are highly toxic to humans and animals. The plant, (Nerium oleander and Thevetia peruviana) is a very common sight on the island. It is commonly found around field margins, valley-sides and damp shrublands. 

While there were no recent fatalities in Malta, there was a documented case of a death more than 100 years ago. In this case, a part of the tree was used as a stirring stick for cooking and one man died from eating the food.

The most common effects from oleander poisoning include cardiac, gastrointestinal, and metabolic effects. Some symptoms can take up to 12 hours to fully develop.