POISONING BY PRIMULA

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1928, Page 12

POISONING BY PRIMULA

NEW TERROR IN A FLOWER GARDENER’S LIFE DESPAIRED OF. POISON ENTERS THROUGH WOUND. Through contact with one of the commonest winter flowering plants in suburban gardens, a Sydney professional gardener has for seven months lain at the point of death {says an Australian paper). His case is regarded by specialists as extraordinary, and emphasises the unrecognised menace to amateur gardeners and others in one of our most popular garden plants. Air. Spahno is a well-known Sydney master-gardener, whose skill in his profession is proverbial. He has supervised the construction and upkeep of many large garden-grounds and was for a' time in charge of the garden of a wealthy Japanese business-man whose flower-beds were one of the showsighte” of Sydney. Early this year Mr. Spahno was at work on a flower-bed bordered by the ornamental plant known as primula Malacoides. He had a small cut or abrasion on his hand which he had not covered with a bandage, believing the hurt trivial. During his work this injured hand came into contact with several of the border primulas.

Later in the day he was using a spray containing lime and sulphur, some of which fell on the cut, sealing it.

Thereafter, the trouble, which was believed due to the primula, began. His hand swelled up and turned black. Madening pain and irritation set in and he grew so ill that a doctor was called and the patient was hurried io Royal Prince Alfred Eospital as a case of acute “blood-poisoning.” '“Blood-poisoning” (septicaemia) is a term which is usually confined to general invasion of the body by the germs of sepsis, which have gained access through some break in the skin. It was soon discovered, however, that Mr. Spahno’s symptoms were not typical of the usual germ-infeetion. UNUSUAL SYMPTOMS.

Acute septicaemia rims a rapid course. Within ten days the patient is usually either better or dead, thou-gh complete recovery is often prolonged. But in Mr. Spahno’s case the skin turned black an.l ultimately peeled off, and, spreading from his originally infected hand, maddening irritation set in which the physicians were unable to alleviate. For a time his life v. as despaired of. Skin disease experts were new called in and many leading Macquarie Street specialists saw the patient, wlicce else admittedly puzaled them. Finally they came to the concleeion that the esse was actually one of “primula-poison-ing.”

That the primula can bs an excessively dangerous plant was recognised in England as far back as 1910, when there was an outbreak of poisoning among professional gardencra. At that time a craae started for t hothouse plant named primula obcerxia, known popularly as Chinese primrose. When handled, minute hairs from the plant remained x>n the skin, getting up first itching and then a spreading inflamation which proved very dificult of treatment.

The primula favoured Ly Australian gardeners is the malacoides type, a hardy plant which in this climate can be grown anywhere out-of-doors. Up to the present it lias not been considered particularly poisonous. In the case of Hr. Spahno, however, the poisoning was of a virulent type, and (what is a disquieting point), spread in spite of the physicians’ efforts, to cover tie whole of his body. No treatment could bring relief. Finally, after Mr. Spahno had been several weeks in hospital, the doctors said they could do nothing further, and he was taken home. PUZZLE FOR PHYSICIANS. He ie still bedridden, having remained thus for seven months. His wife says there has been no change in his condition since he left the hospital, which (as the physicians could not alleviate his sufferings) he left in little better condition than he entered.

Mr. Spahno at present lies in his own home in the Blue Mountains (N.S.W.). The skin of his body remains discoloured, and (in spits of treatment) the maddening irritation continues day and night unchecked. Naturally he has grown very weak, being quite worn out with pain and physicians are doubtful as to whether he will ever regain his health. This case is of unique interest both to the medical profession and the layman. Admittedly there is some doubt as to the extent of the role played by the primula in the original seizure. But there seems little doubt as to the final result being duo to the plent or to fairly frequent occurrence of primulapoisoning among gardeners (either amateur or professional), who handle the plant. One wcrl-known akin sprtiali.it consulted by “Smith’s” said that primula malacoides was responsible for many minor cares cf poisoning, and that there was seme dcubt as to the source of the plant-poison, some believing it a toxin contained la the pollen. Apparently such types of plantpoieoniirg are net well understood. Recent research has unearthed a large class of skin-trouble due to common garden plants. The best known is that due to “poison-ivy,” a creeper common ia America. It has been traced to an

oil which is not only left on the skin when handling it, but ie -blown by the wind from withered ivy-leaves. Another skin-pcicoa is contained in the ordinary daffodil and narcissus, and rets up “lily-rash” in flower-pickers when those blooms are grown commercially. Still another exists in ti-tree and many types cf eucalyptus. Children who cli-n-b ti-trees are liable to contract ’an irritating skin-rash. J. H.

Maiden, doyen cf study of Australian gums, pointed cut (co long ago as 1904) that grey gum, spotted gum, and “box” would set up dermatitis (skininflamation) not only to those handling them but to any susceptible person in their proximity. The latter statement is significant in view of the belief of some skin-special-ists that primula-poiconing is due to pollen, and lienee might possibly be carried to a human being by the" wind. It certainly seems timely, in view of the terrible result in the case of Mr. Spahno, to warn the general public against primula malacoides, this pretty plant so common in suburban gardens. The plant should never be handled without gloves—better still, anyone with a sensitive skin (iu view of wind-borne poison) should avoid growing this dangerous bloom at all.

In fact, there is room for inquiry by the Health authorities as to the extent of plant-poisoning, in order that in the case of such plants restrictions should be imposed on their sale.