POLYNEURITIS FROM TRICRESYL PHOSPHATE

Abstract

A type of paralysis involving thousands of cases throughout the continent, caused by a product new to medicine and evidently arising from a single source, is so unusual that its effects should be a matter of record. Such was the polyneuritis caused by tricresyl phosphate adulterating extract of jamaica ginger, which arose in epidemic form in many sections of the country, early in 1930. The use of jamaica ginger extract, at least in New England, had for many years been the first thought in many families in cases of gastric distress. Only comparatively recently has it come into more general use among alcoholic addicts as a substitute for, or in combination with, other substances containing alcohol. Had the adulteration with poison occurred in earlier generations before there were more modern remedies for gastric disturbances, it is probable that the type of patients becoming victims of this paralysis would have been