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Herbal Medicine as a Cause of Combined Lead and Arsenic Poisoning

West Middlesex University Hospital, Isleworth, TW7 6AF, UK

M. Conway

West Middlesex University Hospital, Isleworth, TW7 6AF, UK

J. Cassar

West Middlesex University Hospital, Isleworth, TW7 6AF, UK

1 Combined chronic lead and arsenic poisoning was diagnosed in a 33-year-old Korean woman following consumption of a Korean herbal medicine prescribed for haemorrhoids.

2 The patient had malaise, severe difficulty walking, arthralgia, oedema and abdominal pain with diarrhoea.

3 Investigation showed anaemia with basophilic stippling, fragmentation and a raised reticulocyte count.

4 Raised blood and urine lead levels and urine arsenic levels were found.

5 Analysis of the herbal medicine revealed a high lead and arsenic content.

6 Treatment with the newer chelating agent 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid was successful, with no detectable side-effects.

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 9, No. 3, 195-196 (1990)
DOI: 10.1177/096032719000900314


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