Bleeding from the ears and nose after food poisoning

[brettdale]

"It must be some bad fuckin food to cause that"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061009/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq...


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick from poisoning Sunday at a base in southern Iraq after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast, and officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional.


An official with the Environment Ministry said 11 policemen had died. However, the governor of Wasit province — where the poisoning took place — denied any deaths, though he said some of the victims were in critical condition. There was no immediate explanation for the contradictory reports.

Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal, said Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector for the Environment Ministry, who was serving as a liaison in the investigation between the Health Ministry and the base, located in the town of Numaniyah

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Any toxicologists around? What would DO that?

[Horse with no Name]

2. Food wouldn't do that

if this is correct, it was a fast-acting toxin.

[MadMaddie]

3. Rat Poisening...

[Horse with no Name]

4. Doesn't work that fast

>>>snip
2.3 Diagnosis

The diagnosis is based on history of exposure (generally
by ingestion of a rodenticide); clinical evidence of
bleeding, which may appear 1 to 2 days post ingestion; and
abnormal prothrombin time.

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:vbyPKGzgS_AJ:www.in...

[spacelady]

25. Would fasting make a difference in timing effects?

[Kutjara]

6. That's my guess too.

The warfarin used in rat poison is an anti-coagulant blood thinning agent. In controlled doses, it is used medicinally to treat people who are prone to clots or who have had a prosthetic heart valve installed (to stop blood clotting on the valve and clogging it). In high doses, it totally impairs the blood's clotting function, with the result that the victim haemorrages generally throughout their body. Essentially, they bleed to death from the inside. Blood running from bodily orifices is an indication of this kind of generalized bleeding.

[azurnoir]

12. It's sold as Coumadin

a relatively common drug for people over 50 to be taking, it would take an incredable amount to due that. There are other drugs known as "clot busters" that are very fast acting they can be given during a stroke and will disolve the clot in minutes.

[Horse with no Name]

17. Those drugs are given IV

there aren't any oral forms.
This was some type of poison designed to work quickly.
Coumadin (warfarin) doesn't work that quickly because of the bioavailability.

[azurnoir]

19. That does not necessarily mean

that they will not do the same thing, the drugs in their proper use are given IV because that is most efficient way of delivery.

[Horse with no Name]

21. Yes actually it does mean just that

They don't work ANY other route.

[Webster Green]

5. Sounds like poison in the food....not food poisoning....

This is obviously not a case of unsanitary conditions etc. Someone put a good dose of some real nasty stuff into the food.

[Disturbed]

8. A whole lot of people in Iraq are going to be

real nervous the next time they sit down to eat.

[lonestarnot]

7. Has there been an update on the body count? There was

an earlier post on this and many were in critical condition. Probably more than eleven dead by now.

[Eurobabe]

9. Maybe they ate American lettuce?

n/t

[EFerrari]

10. I'm sorry, World. We tried really hard.

[Random_Australian]

14. We know... well, some of us. In all honesty, in the general world more

people view the white house as a threat than Tehran, even though that is headed by someone who denies the holocaust ever happened.

Don't worry - in 20 years it will be some other nations turn to screw up everything.

[EFerrari]

24. We're hostages to the most corrupt government on the planet.

I, too, see the White House as the biggest threat to us all.

[kestrel91316]

11. The only commonly available poison I can think of that

causes bleeding (it's an anticoagulant) is warfarin (coumadin, rat/mouse poison, D-Con). I don't understand how it could act so fast though, if they were exposed at that meal and sickened upon finishing.

I don't know enough about chemical warfare agents to speculate, but it seems that might have been the cause, rather than common old D-Con.

[bullimiami]

13. did the food come from halliburton?

plastic turkey a la botulism perhaps.

[951-Riverside]

15. Radiation poisoning?

[azurnoir]

16. As I posted earlier

There are fast acting clot busting drugs known as t-PA's they are usually given during a stroke or other cardio-vascular incident involving excessive blood clotting, they are liquid, colorless, faint odor, almost tasteless, in highly seasoned food very hard to detect.

[Horse with no Name]

18. And only work when given IV

[azurnoir]

20. There is no oral form

because there is no medical reason to give this drug orally, the patient would very likely be dead by the time it was absorbed through the stomacher lining many drugs come in both oral and IV forms, also injectable they will work no matter how they are delivered. Example there are IV forms Zantac and Pepsid, both forms have to enter the blood stream to work, it's just how fast.
edited for clarity

[Horse with no Name]

22. Would love to know where you studied pharmacology

But you are wrong.
All that I will say.

[Atman]

23. Small scale government "anthrax" test?

After all, suddenly anthrax (remember, the second terrorist attack under Bush's watch?) is all over the news again. And again, I have this gnawing feeling that I'm being played. Again.

[bobbieinok]

26. didn't Marine email published in Time/Newsweek praise Iraqi police

and say they were one of the few bright spots in Iraq war?????