Epping Jaundice

On February 5, 1965 a young medical student got sick.  He complained of severe pain on the right side of his upper abdomen.  In total 84 people became ill with similar complaints.  The course of the disease sounds eerily like a disease plaguing the world today.  The patients initially had right upper quadrant pain.  Then after a short period of feeling better they developed flu-like symptoms,  jaundice and liver tenderness.  After that, they gradually improved. 

This article in the British Medical Journal tells the story.  The culprit was fresh bread from a bakery in Epping, England.   Thankfully it is not whole wheat or ground flour that caused the illness.  It was an epoxy hardener, 4,4-diaminodiphenylmethane, that was spilled on the bags of flour.  The chemical was known to cause hepatic damage in large doses.  In this cause it caused hepatic injury in very small doses.  Fascinating story.  

So what does this look like to you?  Everyday in hospitals across the state and around the world people present with a similar clinical picture.  The culprit in not some strange epoxy resin.  The culprit is acetaminophen.  The drug we each take to treat everything from fever to headaches and sore backs.  Thankfully we do not have crazy outbreaks of Tylenol poisoning.  Instead we have the daily grind (and not of wheat) of accidental overuse.