Clinical and analytical aspects of pyrrolizidine poisoning caused by SouthAfrican traditional medicines

In a study carried out in two hospitals in South Africa the authors identif ied 20 children suffering from hepatic veno-occlusive disease thought to be caused by the administration of traditional remedies. The predominant clin ical presentation was ascites of various degrees and hepatomegaly. There wa s a high morbidity and mortality in the young infants, and in those cases w ho survived and were followed up the clinical pattern was one of progressio n to cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Pyrrolizidine alkaloid poisoning is one of the causes of the veno-occlusive disease. Therefore there is a need for objective confirmation of this. In four of our cases an on admission u rine specimen was available and in all of these a simple colorimetric scree ning lest confirmed the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. The other case s were admitted from peripheral hospitals and clinics and urine was not obt ained until after 72 h, a time at which the levels of pyrrolizidines in uri ne were below the limit of sensitivity of the screening test. The screening method is helpful for the detection of acute ingestion of pyrrolizidines i n large amounts, but is not sufficiently sensitive for the detection of chr onic ingestion of smaller amounts. Nevertheless, in those patients who have hepatomegaly and ascites a positive finding of pyrrolizidines is important and may remove the necessity for expensive and invasive investigative meas ures.