| Coturnism | |
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| Coturnix coturnix | |
| Specialty | Toxicology |
Coturnism is an illness featuring muscle tenderness and rhabdomyolysis [1] (muscle cell breakdown) after consuming quail (usually common quail, Coturnix coturnix, [2] from which the name derives) that have fed on poisonous plants.
From case histories it is known that the toxin is stable, as four-month-old pickled quail have been poisonous. Humans vary in their susceptibility; only one in four people who consumed quail soup containing the toxin fell ill. It is apparently fat-soluble, as potatoes fried in quail fat are also poisonous. [3]
Coniine from hemlock consumed by quail has been suggested as the cause of coturnism, [4] though quail resist eating hemlock. [3] Hellebore has also been suggested as the source of the toxin. [5] It has also been asserted that this evidence points to the seeds of the annual woundwort ( Stachys annua ) being the causal agent. [3] It has been suggested that Galeopsis ladanum seeds are not responsible. [6]
Migration routes and season may affect quail risk. [7] Quail are never poisonous outside the migration season nor are the vast majority poisonous while migrating. [3] European common quail migrate along three different flyways, each with different poisoning characteristics, at least in 20th-century records. The western flyway across Algeria to France is associated with poisonings only on the spring migration and not on the autumn return. The eastern flyway, which funnels down the Nile Valley, is the reverse. Poisonings were only reported in the autumn migration before the quail had crossed the Mediterranean. The central flyway across Italy had no associated poisonings. [3]
The condition was certainly known by the 4th century BC to the ancient Greek (and subsequently Roman) naturalists, physicians, and theologians. The Bible (Numbers 11:31-34) mentions an incident where the Israelites became ill after having consumed large amounts of quail in Sinai. [8] Philo gives a more detailed version of the same Biblical story (The Special Laws: 4: 120–131). Early writers used quail as the standard example of an animal that could eat something poisonous to man without ill effects for themselves. Aristotle (On Plants 820:6-7), Philo (Geoponics: 14: 24), Lucretius (On the Nature of Things: 4: 639–640), Galen (De Temperamentis: 3:4) and Sextus Empiricus (Outlines of Pyrrhonism: 1: 57) all make this point.
Central to these ancient accounts is the idea that quail became toxic to humans after consuming seeds from hellebore or henbane (Hyoscyamus niger). However Sextus Empiricus suggested that quail ate hemlock (Conium maculatum), an idea revived in the 20th century. Confirmation that the ancients understood the problem comes from a 10th-century text, Geoponica, based on ancient sources. This states, "Quails may graze hellebore putting those who afterwards eat them at risk of convulsions and vertigo....". [9]
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broad sense.
Rhabdomyolysis is a condition in which damaged skeletal muscle breaks down rapidly, often due to high intensity exercise over a short period of time. Symptoms may include muscle pains, weakness, vomiting, and confusion. There may be tea-colored urine or an irregular heartbeat. Some of the muscle breakdown products, such as the protein myoglobin, are harmful to the kidneys and can cause acute kidney injury.
The common quail, or European quail, is a small ground-nesting game bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is mainly migratory, breeding in the western Palearctic and wintering in Africa and southern India.
Coniine is a poisonous chemical compound, an alkaloid present in and isolable from poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), where its presence has been a source of significant economic, medical, and historico-cultural interest; coniine is also produced by the yellow pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava), and fool's parsley (Aethusa cynapium). Its ingestion and extended exposure are toxic to humans and all classes of livestock; its mechanism of poisoning involves disruption of the central nervous system, with death caused by respiratory paralysis. The biosynthesis of coniine contains as its penultimate step the non-enzymatic cyclisation of 5-oxooctylamine to γ-coniceine, a Schiff base differing from coniine only by its carbon-nitrogen double bond in the ring. This pathway results in natural coniine that is a mixture—a racemate—composed of two enantiomers, the stereoisomers (S)-(+)-coniine and (R)-(−)-coniine, depending on the direction taken by the chain that branches from the ring. Both enantiomers are toxic, with the (R)-enantiomer being the more biologically active and toxic of the two in general. Coniine holds a place in organic chemistry history as being the first of the important class of alkaloids to be synthesized, by Albert Ladenburg in 1886, and it has been synthesized in the laboratory in a number of unique ways through to modern times.
Mushroom poisoning is poisoning resulting from the ingestion of mushrooms that contain toxic substances. Symptoms can vary from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death in about 10 days. Mushroom toxins are secondary metabolites produced by the fungus.
Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP), also known as ciguatera, is a foodborne illness caused by eating reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins. Such individual fish are said to be ciguatoxic. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, numbness, itchiness, sensitivity to hot and cold, dizziness, and weakness. The onset of symptoms varies with the amount of toxin eaten. If a lot of toxins are consumed symptoms may appear within half an hour. If a low amount of toxins are consumed symptoms make take a few days to appear. Diarrhea may last up to four days. Symptoms may last a few weeks to a few months. Heart problems such as slow heart rate and low blood pressure may occur.
Commonly known as hellebores, the Eurasian genus Helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave its name to the tribe of Helleboreae. Many hellebore species are poisonous.
Cicutoxin is a naturally-occurring poisonous chemical compound produced by several plants from the family Apiaceae including water hemlock (Cicuta species) and water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata). The compound contains polyene, polyyne, and alcohol functional groups and is a structural isomer of oenanthotoxin, also found in water dropwort. Both of these belong to the C17-polyacetylenes chemical class.
Cicuta, commonly known as water hemlock, is a genus of four species of highly poisonous plants in the family Apiaceae. They are perennial herbaceous plants which grow up to 2.5 meters (8 ft) tall, having distinctive small green or white flowers arranged in an umbrella shape (umbel). Plants in this genus may also be referred to as cowbane or poison parsnip. Cicuta is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, mainly North America and Europe, typically growing in wet meadows, along streambanks and other wet and marshy areas. These plants bear a close resemblance to other members in the family Apiaceae and may be confused with a number of edible or poisonous plants. The common name hemlock may also be confused with poison hemlock, or with the Hemlock tree.
Both Old World and New World quail include edible species. The common quail used to be much favoured in French cooking, but quail for the table are now more likely to be domesticated Japanese quail. The common quail is also part of Polish, Maltese, Italian, Mexican, Spanish, and Indian cuisine. Quail are commonly eaten complete with the bones, since these are easily chewed and the small size of the bird makes it inconvenient to remove them.
Tricholoma equestre or Tricholoma flavovirens, commonly known as the man on horseback or yellow knight is a widely eaten but arguably toxic fungus of the genus Tricholoma that forms ectomycorrhiza with pine trees.
Oenanthotoxin is a toxin extracted from hemlock water-dropwort and other plants of the genus Oenanthe. It is a central nervous system poison, and acts as a noncompetitive antagonist of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid. A case has been made for the presence of this toxin in local Oenanthe species playing a causative role in euthanasia in ancient Sardinia. It was crystallized in 1949 by Clarke and co-workers. It is structurally closely related to the toxins cicutoxin and carotatoxin. Oenanthotoxin is a C17 polyacetylene isomer of cicutoxin.
Haff disease is the development of rhabdomyolysis within 24 hours of ingesting fish.
Conium maculatum, known as hemlock, or poison hemlock is a highly poisonous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. It is herbaceous without woody parts and has a biennial lifecycle. A hardy plant capable of living in a variety of environments, hemlock is widely naturalised in locations outside its native range, such as parts of Australia, West Asia, and North and South America, to which it has been introduced. It is capable of spreading and thereby becoming an invasive weed.
Toxic birds are birds that use toxins to defend themselves from predators. Although no known bird actively injects or produces venom, toxic birds sequester poison from animals and plants they consume, especially poisonous insects. Species include the pitohui and ifrita birds from Papua New Guinea, the European quail, the spur-winged goose, hoopoes, the bronzewing pigeon, and the red warbler.
Poisonous amphibians are amphibians that produce toxins to defend themselves from predators.
Old World quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the tribe Coturnicini of the pheasant family Phasianidae. Although all species commonly referred to as "Old World quail" are in the same tribe, they are paraphyletic with respect to the other members of the tribe, such as Alectoris, Tetraogallus, Ammoperdix, Margaroperdix, and Pternistis.
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