A Case of Castor Bean Poisoning
Journal Title: Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal - Year 2008, Vol 8, Issue 1
Abstract
Castor beans, sometimes used in traditional therapies, contain ricin one of the most toxic substances known. It may cause an acute and potentially fatal gastroenteritis in addition to neurological and ophthalmological lesions. Poisoning may also lead to delayed visceral damages; however, the latter is quite rare. Te toxicity is dose related and depends on the amount of castor beans ingested. Tere is no specific treatment and symptomatic management to reduce the load of the toxin needs to be initiated quickly and early when a case of poisoning is suspected so that serious complications will be avoided. Increasing the awareness of the population to the dangers of ricin would be a way to avoid the utilisation of castor seeds in traditional therapies. Here we are reporting a case of mild poisoning after ingestion of a single castor bean. Te patient, who presented at Nizwa Hospital, Oman, fortunately recovered completely as the ingested dose was quite small.
Authors and Affiliations
Faisal A AL-Tamimi| Department of Medicine, Nizwa Hospital, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman, Ahmad E M Hegazi| Department of Medicine, Nizwa Hospital, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman
Keywords
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