A sudden onset of unexplained physical symptoms can be terrifying. Today, doctors can test for countless pathogens, chemicals, and environmental contaminants. However, for much of history, doctors lacked modern toxicology to help them investigate mysterious illnesses. People might attribute strange symptoms to contagion, nutritional deficiencies, hereditary disorders, or even curses.
In some cases, it took investigators decades, even centuries, to identify the real culprit. Entire communities suffered while doctors searched for diseases that didn’t exist, unaware that something in the victims’ food, medicine, workplace, or environment was slowly poisoning them. Investigators ultimately attributed these ten scary medical mysteries to toxins hiding in plain sight.
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10 The dancing cats of Minamata
In 1956, a five-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital run by the Chisso Corporation in Minamata, Japan. Her legs could no longer support her, her speech was slurred, and she suffered from repeated convulsions. Two days later, her younger sister arrived with similar symptoms. A neighbor’s daughter also fell ill, and doctors quickly identified several other patients suffering from the same mysterious neurological illness.
Something equally disturbing had already happened to the animals of Minamata. The cats were staggering, convulsing and thrashing uncontrollably. Some reportedly threw themselves into the sea. Locals called this phenomenon “cat dancing disease”. When people began showing similar symptoms, doctors feared an outbreak of a contagious brain disease and isolated patients.
Investigators noticed that the disease was concentrated among fishing families whose members – and pets – consumed large quantities of local seafood. Research ultimately revealed that wastewater from the Chisso chemical plant contained methylmercury produced during the manufacture of acetaldehyde. Mercury accumulates in fish and shellfish, then enters the bodies of people and animals who eat them.
Japan officially recognized the outbreak in 1956, although later research identified a patient who fell ill in 1953. The disaster became known as Minamata disease, one of the world’s most infamous cases of industrial poisoning.(1)
9 The Jake Walk Outbreak
During Prohibition, tens of thousands of Americans in the South and Midwest developed a baffling neurological disease. Their hands and feet became weak and many lost control of their leg muscles. Victims were left with a distinctive gait that dragged their feet and took high steps, known as the “Jake Walk” or “Jake Leg.”
Doctors initially struggled to explain the sudden wave of paralysis. The symptoms resembled those produced by many neurological diseases, but many patients hid an important fact: they had drunk Jamaican ginger extract, commonly known as “jake.”
Although sold as a patent medicine, Jamaican ginger contained enough alcohol to make it popular with people looking for a legal drink. Government regulations required the extract to contain a certain amount of ginger solids, so some manufacturers adulterated their products with tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate, or TOCP. The industrial chemical helped the drink pass government tests but caused delayed and sometimes permanent nerve damage.
The outbreak emerged in 1930, and investigators eventually traced the contaminated products to manufacturers Harry Gross and Max Reisman of Hub Products. The embarrassing circumstances surrounding the poisoning caused many victims to remain silent, making it impossible to determine the true number of victims.(2)
8 Devonshire colic
For decades, residents of Devonshire, England, suffered recurring bouts of severe abdominal pain, constipation, vomiting and muscle spasms. In particularly severe cases, patients developed weakness or paralysis of the hands and wrists. Doctors called this mysterious illness Devonshire colic, but that name did little to explain its cause.
Some doctors blamed the coastal climate. Others suspected gastrointestinal infections or so-called sour fruits eaten by locals. The answer finally emerged in 1767, when physician George Baker investigated why this disease was common in Devonshire but rare in neighboring counties.
Baker noticed an important regional difference: Devonshire produced and consumed huge quantities of apple cider. When producing cider, manufacturers used lead in parts of their presses, mills, storage tanks, and other equipment. The acidic juice came into contact with the metal and became contaminated.
By comparing local practices and testing cider for lead, Baker showed that Devonshire colic was not a regional disease. It was lead poisoning, delivered one drink at a time.(3)
7 Itaï-Itaï disease
Beginning in the early 20th century, people in Japan’s Jintsu River Basin developed excruciating joint and spinal pain. Most of the most affected patients were older or postmenopausal women. Their bones weakened to the point where a simple movement could cause fractures, while some also suffered severe kidney damage.
The victims’ cries of pain gave the disease its name: Itai-Itai disease, which means “It hurts!” It hurts! Doctors have proposed arthritis, malnutrition, hormonal changes and vitamin deficiencies as possible explanations. In 1955, the disease was first reported to a medical society as an illness of unknown origin.
The real cause was industrial cadmium. Wastewater from the Kamioka mining complex upstream had contaminated the river. Farmers used this water to irrigate their rice fields, allowing cadmium to leach into a staple food consumed throughout the region.
In 1968, Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare officially concluded that chronic cadmium poisoning had damaged patients’ kidneys and led to osteomalacia, a severe softening of their bones. Pregnancy, aging, calcium deficiencies and other factors could make sufferers even more vulnerable, helping to explain why the disease has devastated some women so severely.(4)
6 Arsenic wallpaper poisoning
Victorian consumers loved bright green clothing, toys, furniture and wallpaper. Manufacturers responded to this demand with pigments such as Scheele’s Green, a copper arsenite compound, and Paris Green, a related but distinct arsenic-based color. These pigments were inexpensive, vivid, and extremely toxic.
People exposed to arsenic products have reported stomach problems, skin lesions, irritated eyes, headaches, weakness and breathing problems. Because arsenic poisoning could mimic common gastrointestinal illnesses or lead to a gradual decline in health, doctors did not always recognize the connection. The danger was especially severe for workers making green artificial flowers, fabrics and wallpaper, inhaling arsenic-laden dust or transferring it from their hands to their mouths.
Wallpaper poses a more controversial issue. Arsenic-containing particles could flake off or rub off on its surface, and scientists also studied whether humid conditions allowed microorganisms to release volatile arsenic compounds. The precise importance of these gases remains controversial, which is why the popular image of wallpaper constantly filling rooms with clouds of arsenic is too simple.
The underlying danger was, however, real. Arsenic had found its way into wallpaper, clothing, candy, toys and many other household products. What looked like a fashionable room could therefore expose its occupants to one of the most common poisons of the Victorian era.(5)
5 The fire of Saint-Antoine
Throughout the Middle Ages, terrifying epidemics swept through European communities without warning. Victims experienced intense burning sensations in their arms and legs, followed by muscle spasms, convulsions, delirium and hallucinations. In severe cases, blood flow to the extremities has stopped. Fingers, toes and entire limbs were blackened by dry gangrene and sometimes fell off.
Without an obvious explanation, people blamed contagious disease, demonic possession, or divine punishment. Many sick people went to hospitals and shrines run by the Order of St. Anthony, whose members became known for treating victims. This mysterious affliction has been given several names, including “sacred fire” and “St. Anthony’s fire.”
Not all medieval epidemics described by these names can be diagnosed with certainty today. However, many of these were almost certainly cases of ergotism caused by eating cereals infected with Claviceps purpurea. The fungus usually attacks rye and produces dark structures containing toxic alkaloids.
Once contaminated grains were ground into flour and consumed, these alkaloids could cause seizures, hallucinations, and extreme constriction of blood vessels. The resulting loss of circulation explains both the burning agony of the victims and the gangrene that seems to consume their bodies.(6)
4 Pink disease
In the first half of the 20th century, pediatricians in Europe, North America, and Australia were confronted with a frightening disease that affected infants and young children. Previously healthy children have developed painful pink discoloration and swelling of the hands and feet. Their skin peels, their hearts race, and they become unusually sensitive to light.
Many also suffered from excessive sweating, irritability, weakness, insomnia and loss of hair or teeth. Doctors called this condition acrodynia or “pink disease,” but they disagreed about its cause. Proposed explanations included vitamin deficiencies, glandular disorders, infections, and abnormal sensitivity of the nervous system.
In 1948, doctors Josef Warkany and Donald Hubbard reported discovering unusually high concentrations of mercury in the urine of children with the disease. Investigators then began examining the medications the parents regularly gave their babies.
Many teething powders, laxatives and dewormers…
Gn Health
