After ricin exposure, “the whole machinery comes to a screeching halt,” Mantis said. In the cell, ribosomes serve as tiny protein factories. Ricin is known as an RIP - a scary-sounding acronym that stands for ribosome-inactivating protein, said Mantis, of the New York State Department of Health in Albany. Death can come as soon as 36 hours after exposure. Ingesting ricin can cause diarrhea, vomiting and seizures. Inhaling ricin can make breathing so difficult the skin turns blue. Symptoms of ricin poisoning depend on how the toxin enters the body, and how much gets in. A Texas woman had ordered castor bean seeds and lye online, for a do-it-yourself approach to making ricin. In 2013, a letter addressed to President Barack Obama tested positive for granules of the deadly toxin. In 1978, Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov was hit in the thigh with a ricin-poisoned pellet shot from an umbrella gun. Ricin poisoning is rare but has featured in some high-profile cases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a category B bioterrorism agent, just behind the highest-risk category A agents such as anthrax, plague and Ebola. It’s dangerous and relatively easy to spread - rated by the U.S. Though ricin has an innocuous origin (it’s found in castor beans), the poison is anything but harmless. Immunologist Nicholas Mantis agreed: “There is no specific treatment or therapy whatsoever.” Doctors need some way to deal with ricin poisoning, said Patrick Cherubin, a cell biologist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
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