How does ricin affect the nervous system?

Ricin ingestion can also cause disturbances in the central nervous system, potentially leading to hallucinations or seizures. Within several days, multi-organ failure can result. Depending on the degree of exposure, death can result within 36 to 72 hours from both inhalation and ingestion of ricin.

What happens when you get poisoned by ricin?

Inhaled ricin causes fever, chest tightness, cough and severe respiratory problems, including fluid buildup in the lungs (pulmonary edema). Ingested ricin causes intestinal bleeding and organ damage. The poison can kill within three days of exposure. Even a small amount of ricin may be fatal.

What is the level of toxicity for ricin?

Ricin is a naturally occurring carbohydrate-binding protein produced in the seeds of ricinus communis, the plant that produces castor oil. It is toxic when inhaled, ingested, or injected. As few as five to ten micrograms per kilogram can be lethal.

What happens if ricin is injected?

Injection: Injection of a lethal amount of ricin first causes the muscles and lymph nodes near the injection site to fail. Eventually, the liver, kidneys and spleen stop working and there is massive bleeding from the stomach and intestines, resulting in death from multiple organ failure.

Is ricin a nerve agent?

Nerve agents or nerve gasses are chemical weapons which attack a person’s nervous system and prevent their body from functioning properly. Sarin Gas, VX and Thallium are all nerve agents but ricin is not. Sarin is a colourless and odourless agent that was outlawed in April 1997 by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

What are symptoms of ricin?

Signs and symptoms of ricin exposure Inhalation: Within a few hours of inhaling significant amounts of ricin, the likely symptoms would be respiratory distress (difficulty breathing), fever, cough, nausea, and tightness in the chest. Heavy sweating may follow as well as fluid building up in the lungs (pulmonary edema).

Can doctors detect ricin poisoning?

There are no specific clinically validated assays for detection of ricin that can be performed by the hospital/healthcare facility clinical laboratory. No methods are available for the detection of ricin in biologic fluids.

Has anyone died from ricin?

Has anyone ever died after being exposed to ricin? Yes, several deaths have resulted after a victim was injected with ricin. People have been poisoned with ricin after eating castor beans, but most cases of eating castor beans do not result in poisoning, because it is difficult to release the ricin from castor beans.

What is the deadliest nerve agent?

VX
VX is the most potent of all nerve agents. Compared with the nerve agent sarin (also known as GB), VX is considered to be much more toxic by entry through the skin and somewhat more toxic by inhalation.

Is there a vaccine for ricin?

There is no approved vaccine for ricin. Ricin contains a lectin-binding B chain and a ribotoxic A chain (RTA).

Is ricin easy to detect?

Scientists have developed a simple, accurate, and highly sensitive test to detect and quantify ricin, an extremely potent toxin with potential use as a bioterrorism agent.

Which neurotoxin is 5 times more lethal than VX?

Botulinum Toxin. Botulinum toxin is reported to be the most toxic substance known. Comparatively, it is 10–15,000 times more toxic than VX nerve agent.

How do you detect ricin?

Tests performed on ricin-suspicious samples include:

1. Time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay: antibody binds to ricin.
2. Polymerase chain reaction: locates and makes copies of parts of the DNA contained in the castor bean plant. The search specifically identifies the DNA of the gene that produces the ricin protein.

How was ricin discovered?

The raid revealed 22 castor seeds and recipes for making ricin. In October of 2003, ricin was discovered in a post office in Greenville, South Carolina, with a letter threatening to poison water supplies. One month later, ricin was discovered in the White House mailroom.

How is ricin detected in autopsy?

There are no specific clinically validated assays for detection of ricin that can be performed by the hospital/healthcare facility clinical laboratory. No methods are available for the detection of ricin in biologic fluids. Tests for ricinine, an alkaloidal component of the castor bean plant have been developed.