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A Case of Carbon tetrachloride Poisoning in Southern Rhodesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2009

W. K. Blackie
Affiliation:
Rhodesian Research Fellow, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Extract

Since the introduction of carbon tetrachloride for the treatment of the hookworm infestations of man it has been ascertained that in certain conditions fatal poisoning may follow oral administration of the drug. If carbon tetrachloride is given in cases of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, or if alcohol is taken immediately after the drug, severe gastro-intestinal symptoms are to be anticipated with death in two or three days. Davis (1924) showed that in dogs the toxicity of the drug was intimately associated with certain dietetic factors. He found that a high carbohydrate diet enabled the liver to withstand relatively large doses of the drug. High protein diets also protected the liver against injury (although less efficiently than carbohydrate) but an “all-fat” diet was invariably associated with extensive damage to the hepatic parenchyma. Lambert (1923) while carrying out hookworm treatment on a large scale in Fiji found that where a patient was heavily infested with Ascaris lumbricoides as well as with hookworm it was unwise to exhibit carbon tetrachloride without first getting rid of the ascarids.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1931

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References

Davis, N. C., 1924.—“The Influence of diet upon the Liver injury produced by Carbon tetrachloride,” J. Med. Res., Vol. XLIV, pp. 601614. (W.L. 11343.)Google Scholar
Lambert, S.M., 1923.—“Carbon tetrachloride in the Treatment of Hookworm Disease Observations on fifty-thousand cases,” J. Amer. Med. Ass., vol. LXXXI, pp. 526528. (W.L. 11006.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Minot, A. S., 1927.—“The Relation of Calcium to the Toxicity of Carbon tetrachloride in Dogs,” Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol., Vol. XXIV, pp. 617620. (W.L. 16913.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar