Table 1.
Summary of human intoxications with ricin.
| Human Cases: Accidental | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uptake/Ingestion | Outcome | Where | Detection and Diagnosis 1 | Ref. 2 | |
| 101 people (different age) | ingestion and injection of varying amounts of Ricinus communis derivates | 6 fatal | worldwide | circumstantial evidence | [33] |
| man (age 26) | in 1900 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | UK | circumstantial evidence | [189] |
| juvenile (age 15) | in 1902 ingestion of 10 or 12 castor seeds | fatal | USA | circumstantial evidence | [190] |
| 4 adults (age unknown) | in 1903 ingestion of 1, 4, 6 and 14 castor seeds, respectively | recovered | Cuba | circumstantial evidence | [190] |
| man (age 50) | in 1903 ingestion of 2 castor seeds | recovered | UK | circumstantial evidence | [191] |
| man (age unknown) | in 1920 ingestion of 5 castor seeds | fatal | USA | circumstantial evidence | [192] |
| 2 women (age 22 and 41) | ingestion of 2.5-5 castor seeds for treatment of stomach convulsions | fatal | Hungary | circumstantial evidence | [193] |
| man (age unknown) | drinking of an extract made of a fistful castor seeds | fatal | Hungary | circumstantial evidence | [193] |
| man (age 24) | in 1934 ingestion of 15-20 castor seeds | fatal | Germany | circumstantial evidence | [194] |
| 4 adults (age unknown) | ingestion of 1-15 castor seeds | recovered | Austria | circumstantial evidence | [195] |
| child (age 7) | in 1941 ingestion of 4 castor seeds | recovered | Italy | circumstantial evidence | [196] |
| woman (age 60) | in 1948 ingestion of 10 castor seeds for relaxant | recovered | Brazil | circumstantial evidence | [178] |
| 2 people (age unknown) | in 1950-1952 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | Italy | suspected | [197] |
| 10 children (age 11-13) | in 1958 ingestion of 0.5-6 castor seeds | recovered | Hungary | circumstantial evidence | [198] |
| man (age 42) | ingestion of 10 seeds | recovered | Poland | circumstantial evidence | [199] |
| 57 children (age 1-5, >5) | in 1962-1965 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds, on average 4-5 | recovered | India | circumstantial evidence | [170] |
| 443 children (age <19) | in 1964-1969 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | USA | suspected | [200] |
| man (age 57) | in 1970 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds, which were thought to be scarlet runner beans | recovered | Netherlands | circumstantial evidence | [201] |
| 4 men (age 7-18) | ingestion of 1-2 castor seeds | recovered | India | circumstantial evidence | [202] |
| family of 4 people (age 8-44) | in 1974 ingestion of 2-10 castor seeds | recovered | Italy | circumstantial evidence | [203] |
| girl (age 17) | in 1965 ingestion of 1 castor seed | recovered | UK | circumstantial evidence | [204] |
| child (age unknown) | In the 1970s ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | India | circumstantial evidence | [205] |
| boy (age 4) | in 1979 ingestion of 4 castor seeds from an ornamental necklace | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [171] |
| girl (age 2) | in 1979 ingestion of at least 1 castor seed | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [171] |
| 7 children (age unknown) | in 1968-1970 ingestion of 1-10 castor seeds because of good taste | recovered | Croatia | circumstantial evidence | [179] |
| 7 adults (age unknown) | in 1968-1970 ingestion of 1-10 castor seeds as laxative | recovered | Croatia | circumstantial evidence | [179] |
| 2 children (ages 4 and 5) | in 1979 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds which were found in a canister together with walnuts | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [206] |
| 4 adults (age 19-21) | ingestion of 0.5-1 castor seed | recovered | Denmark | circumstantial evidence | [207] |
| 10 children (age 6-8) | ingestion of 1-7 castor seeds and just contact, respectively | recovered | Spain | circumstantial evidence | [208] |
| 2 boys (age 17) | ingestion of 8 and 3 castor seeds | recovered | Israel | circumstantial evidence | [209] |
| 9 children (age 7 to 12) | in 1984 ingestion of 1-2 castor seeds which were taken to school | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [165] |
| child (age 11) | ingestion of 1 castor seed during lesson in school | recovered | UK | circumstantial evidence | [210] |
| man (age 21) | ingestion of 12 castor seeds, which were thought to be hazelnuts | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [211] |
| woman (age 80) | ingestion of unknown amount of shelled castor seeds out of ambiguous reasons | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [211] |
| woman (age 52) | ingestion of 10-15 castor seeds without knowledge of its toxicity | recovered | Spain | circumstantial evidence | [212] |
| child (age 3) | ingestion of two or more castor seeds | recovered | USA | suspected | [166] |
| man (age 28) | ingestion of 4 castor seeds as treatment against constipation | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [166] |
| man (age 39) | ingestion of 4 castor seeds, man declared, that he often eats roasted castor seeds | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [166] |
| 28 children (age < 15) | in 1986 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | Sri Lanka | suspected | [213] |
| man (age 36) | extract of 1 castor seed was injected, against migraine or out of curiosity | recovered | UK | circumstantial evidence | [174] |
| 3 patients (age unknown) | in 1966-1994 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | Switzerland | circumstantial evidence | [176] |
| young adult (age unknown) | in 1995 ingestion of 10-15 castor seeds out of curiosity | recovered | Australia | circumstantial evidence | [173] |
| girl (age 20 months) | ingestion of 2 or more castor seeds | recovered | Canada | circumstantial evidence | [214] |
| 5 people (age unknown) | ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | Tunisia | not described | [215] |
| man (age 70) | ingestion of 10 castor seeds | recovered | Malta | circumstantial evidence | [172] |
| 120 people (different age) | in 1955 ingestion of varying amounts of castor seeds | 1 fatal | Europe | circumstantial evidence | [216] |
| child (age 3) | ingestion of 5-6 castor seeds | recovered | Germany | circumstantial evidence | [216] |
| man (age 69) | swallowing of 30 seeds without chewing; intended use: medical treatment of rheumatism, external application was recommended | recovered | Japan | circumstantial evidence | [180] |
| 46 children (age unknown) | in 1984-2001 ingestion of unknown amount of castor seeds | recovered | Sri Lanka | suspected | [169] |
| man (age 51) | ingestion of one green fruit of castor plant as treatment against cough | recovered | Oman | circumstantial evidence | [181] |
| woman (age unknown) | injection of 500 mL castor oil for hip augmentation by unlicensed practitioner | recovered | USA | detection of ricinine in urine | [182] |
| woman (age 56) | ingestion of 5 wild castor seeds as treatment against constipation | recovered | Korea | detection of ricin in urine | [177] |
| Georgi Markov (age 49) | in 1978 assassination of Markov: poking with an umbrella for injection of a pellet with channels probably containing ricin | fatal | UK | suspected | [117, 204, 206, 217, 218] |
| Vladimir Kostov | in 1978 attempted assassination of Kostov: shot in his back with an air pistol for injection of a pellet with channels probably containing ricin | recovered | France | suspected | [117] |
| man (age 21) | ingestion of 30 castor seeds in attempting suicide, only some were masticated | recovered | France | detection of ricin in plasma and urine | [219] |
| woman (age 38) | in 1985 ingestion of 24 chopped castor seeds in attempting suicide | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [165] |
| woman (age 20) | ingestion of 12 castor seeds in attempting suicide | recovered | Spain | circumstantial evidence | [220] |
| adolescent (age 16) | ingestion of 2 castor seeds in attempting suicide | recovered | USA | circumstantial evidence | [221] |
| man (age 20) | subcutaneous suicidal injection of castor seed extract | fatal | Poland | suspected | [183] |
| man (age 53) | chewing of 13 castor seeds. The mastication product was injected in attempting suicide | recovered | France | circumstantial evidence | [187] |
| man (age 61) | intention: suicide, injection of a solution of crushed castor seeds | fatal | USA | detection of ricinine in urine | [184, 222] |
| man (age 56), woman (age 59) | injection of extracted ricin from castor seeds into his wife and himself | fatal | Belgium | detection of ricin in urine and syringe | [186] |
| man (age 49) | i.v. and s.c. injection of castor seed extract in attempting suicide | fatal | Belgium | detection of ricinine in blood, urine, and syringe | [185] |
1 Circumstantial evidence: the causative link to ricin intoxication is based on details of the case report, e.g., known or observed uptake of plant seeds, finding of plant material etc.; suspected: suspicion of ricin intoxication based on symptoms observed. 2 Table is organized by the publication date of literature cited. The table focuses on case reports including clinical signs, symptoms and treatment and makes no claim to be complete.