Blood, poison

In 1883 Hertz was appointed Privstdnzent for mathematical physics at Kiel, and after two years became a full professor at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. In 1889 Hertz left Karlsruhe to assume his last academic post as Professor of Physics at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Bonn. Five years later, following a long period of declining health and many painful operations, Heinrich Hertz died in Bonn of blood poisoning on January 1, 1894, a few months before his thirty-seventh birthday. 

Septicemia is generally a serious illness caused by the presence of bacteria and/or bacterial toxins in the blood (blood poisoning). 

Blood poisoning can occur if an inorganic oxide such as As2 03 is allowed to penetrate an open wound. Of course, oxides such as Na20 and CaO have a markedly corrosive action on all body tissue (Ref 38). The specific toxicities of selected inorganic oxides are presented below... 

Oxygen lade Loss of blood supply, depletion of the oxygen-carrying capacity ofthe blood, poisoning of the oxidative enzymes. 

KEYWORDS lead, soil, re-suspension, blood, poisoning, children... 

In pure liquid form, lewisite causes blindness, immediate destruction of lung tissue, and systemic blood poisoning. It is absorbed through the skin like distilled mustard, but is much more toxic to the skin. Skin exposure results in immediate pain a rash forms within 30 minutes. Severe chemical burns are possible. Blistering of the skin takes up to 13 hours to develop. Lewisite does not dissolve in human sweat. It commingles with sweat, then flows to tender skin areas such as the inner arm, buttocks, and crotch. 

Immediate destruction of lung tissue Systemic blood poisoning... 

Finely chop the glands with a razor blade or pulverize in a blender. Extract the adrenalin into a small excess of hot H2O concentrate in a vacuum. Remove the salts and proteins (if proteins are not removed, they will give the same effect as blood poisoning from a rattle snake bite, but worse) by precipitating with alcohol and remove this precipitate by filtration. The filtrate is then distilled in vacuo to remove the adrenalin (1 would perform the filtration above, at room temp). Add a little ammonia to precipitate the active compound and filter from the water. The amount of ammonia depends on the amount of substance. To experiment, to get the proper amount, add a very little amount of ammonia to the distillate and filter off any precipitate if any forms. Add a little more ammonia and filter. Repeat until no more precipitate is formed, remember the amount of ammonia used and use this amount on the same amount of filtrate during the extraction of the next batch. 

Physiological Action.—Sulphur dioxide exerts a decidedly toxic effect on plants 3 and animals,4 and has been used in poison ga,s warfare (see p. 106) even as little as 0-04 per cent, by volume in the atmosphere will cause symptoms of poisoning in human beings after a few hours in larger quantities, either gaseous or dissolved, the effect may be fatal. The gas acts as a direct blood poison and also affects the blood circulation.5 The sulphites are not poisonous.6... 

Staphylococcus aureus can cause serious blood poisoning when it enters a wound. It once was easily treated with penicillin, but the organism has now mutated to the point where it is totally resistant to penicillin. The next defense on the antibiotic ladder has been methicillin, but methicillin-resistant strains have become increasingly com-... 

Testing in mild rather than severe cases presents a difficult dilemma for some conditions. Mild stroke may seem like an oxymoron, but in many cases people do recover with almost no detectable residual deficit or disability. Another is the bacterial infection sepsis, commonly known as blood poisoning, which in its severest form still causes many deaths, but in its mild form may not be especially dangerous in otherwise healthy patients. The alternative to testing in mild cases is to test in severe cases. Unfortunately, in these two examples, any trial restricted to severe cases will be measured against mortality, and no matter how carefully one writes the report, it is not a good outcome if your drug is used on people who eventually die, even if the number of fatalities has decreased. 

According to Sue (SIO), blood poisoning during pregnancy placed a stress on the supply of pyridoxine by reason of excess protein metabolism. This fact, together with the presence of elevated amounts of histidine and histamine, inhibited the action of vitamin Bb, and caused excretion of large quantities of xanthurenic acid. 

SIO. Sue, C. L., Relation between vitamin Bg deficiency and blood poisoning in pregnancy. Sheng Li K o Hsueh Ti Chin. Chan. 1, 366-375 (1957) Chem. Abstr. 55, 10620 (1961). 

Agent Index A317 Class Index C24 Melioidosis Pseudomonas pseudomalle Type Bacteria Presents a range of manifestations from asymptomatic involvement of the lungs to necrotizing pneumonia and/or fatal blood poisoning. May simulate typhoid fever or tuberculosis. Routes Incubation 2 days to Inhalation years Ingestion Mortality Rate — Abraded Skin Reservoir Soils, Water, Rodents, Secondary Hazards Farm animals Body Fluids Direct Person-to-Person Transmission does not occur. 

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