RT Book, Section
A1 Smollin, Craig
A2 Papadakis, Maxine A.
A2 McPhee, Stephen J.
A2 Rabow, Michael W.
A2 McQuaid, Kenneth R.
SR Print(0)
ID 1184179581
T1 Chemical Warfare: Ricin
T2 Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2022
YR 2022
FD 2022
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781264269389
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1184179581
RD 2024/04/19
AB Ricin  is  a  naturally  occurring  toxin  found  in  minute  quantities  in  the  castor  bean  (Ricinus  communis).  It  can  cause  toxicity  if  castor  beans  are  thoroughly  chewed  or  blenderized,  although  the  quantity  of  ricin  is  small  and  it  is  poorly  absorbed  from  the  gastrointestinal  tract,  so  symptoms  following  castor  bean  ingestion  are  usually  limited  to  diarrhea  and  abdominal  pain.  Less  commonly,  severe  gastroenteritis  can  lead  to  volume  depletion  and  advanced  chronic  kidney  disease.  On  the  other  hand,  purified  ricin  is  extremely  toxic  if  administered  parenterally:  the  LD50  for  injected  ricin  in  animals  is  as  low  as  0.1  mcg/kg.  A  fatal  case  of  suspected  ricin  poisoning  by  homicidal  injection  of  an  estimated  0.28  mg  of  ricin  was  associated  with  diffuse  organ  damage  and  death  from  cardiac  failure  after  2  days.  Inhalation  of  ricin  powder  has  not  been  reported  in  humans,  but  animal  studies  suggest  it  could  cause  hemorrhagic  tracheobronchitis  and  pneumonia.