INHALED MYCOTOXINS LEAD TO ACUTE-RENAL-FAILURE

Mysterious deaths of archeologists after opening Egyptian tombs have b een suspected, but never proved, to be secondary to inhalation of myco toxin. We observed a case of acute renal failure (ARF) due to inhalati on of ochratoxin A produced by a mould of the species Aspergillus ochr aceus. After working 8 h in a granary closed for several months, a far mer and his wife suffered respiratory distress; the woman developed no n-oliguric ARF and biopsy revealed tubulonecrosis. A strain of Aspergi llus ochraceus producing ochratoxin was isolated from the wheat.