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In 2007, a man from Woodbridge, Virginia was rushed into hospital after
inhaling an aerosolised version of one of the deadliest poisons on the
planet. He was not the victim of a terrorist attack. He wasn't working in a
biohazard laboratory. He was trying to clean out his fish tank.
The man, who posts on the Reef Central Forums as Steveoutlaw, was trying to
get rid of a colony of zoanthids - a relative of corals and sea anemones -
that was infesting his aquarium rocks. He had heard that boiling water would
do the trick. When he tried it, he accidentally inhaled some of the steam.
Twenty minutes later, his nose was running and he had a cough. Four hours
later, his breathing was laboured and he was headed to the emergency room.
By the time he arrived, he was suffering from severe coughing fits and chest
pains. He was stabilised, but he developed asthma and a persistent cough,
and had to use steroids and an inhaler for at least two months.
The reason for his sudden illness was palytoxin, a speciality of zoanthids,
and the second deadliest poison in the natural world. One gram of the stuff
will kill more than a hundred million mice. This poison, liberated by the
boiling water, had risen into Steveoutlaw's airways in a cloud of steam.
Palytoxin is shrouded in legend. Hawaiian islanders tell of a cursed village
in Maui, whose members defied a shark god that had been eating their fellow
villagers. They dismembered and burned the god, before scattering his ashes
in a tide pool near the town of Hana. Shortly after, a mysterious type of
seaweed started growing in the pool. It became known as "limu-make-o-Hana"
(deadly seaweed of Hana). If smeared on a spear's point, it could instantly
kill its victims.
The story goes on and credit to Discovery Magazine: http://tinyurl.com/3ejtfe4
inhaling an aerosolised version of one of the deadliest poisons on the
planet. He was not the victim of a terrorist attack. He wasn't working in a
biohazard laboratory. He was trying to clean out his fish tank.
The man, who posts on the Reef Central Forums as Steveoutlaw, was trying to
get rid of a colony of zoanthids - a relative of corals and sea anemones -
that was infesting his aquarium rocks. He had heard that boiling water would
do the trick. When he tried it, he accidentally inhaled some of the steam.
Twenty minutes later, his nose was running and he had a cough. Four hours
later, his breathing was laboured and he was headed to the emergency room.
By the time he arrived, he was suffering from severe coughing fits and chest
pains. He was stabilised, but he developed asthma and a persistent cough,
and had to use steroids and an inhaler for at least two months.
The reason for his sudden illness was palytoxin, a speciality of zoanthids,
and the second deadliest poison in the natural world. One gram of the stuff
will kill more than a hundred million mice. This poison, liberated by the
boiling water, had risen into Steveoutlaw's airways in a cloud of steam.
Palytoxin is shrouded in legend. Hawaiian islanders tell of a cursed village
in Maui, whose members defied a shark god that had been eating their fellow
villagers. They dismembered and burned the god, before scattering his ashes
in a tide pool near the town of Hana. Shortly after, a mysterious type of
seaweed started growing in the pool. It became known as "limu-make-o-Hana"
(deadly seaweed of Hana). If smeared on a spear's point, it could instantly
kill its victims.
The story goes on and credit to Discovery Magazine: http://tinyurl.com/3ejtfe4