ergotism

This can cause devastating, even fatal effects, which is called Ergotism.

Ergotism usually appeared after a harsh winter, followed by a rainy summer.

This may explain the different manifestations of ergotism in different outbreaks.

Notable epidemics of ergotism occurred up into the 19th century.

Convulsive ergotism causes a variety of symptoms, including nervous dysfunction.

Other authors have likewise cast doubt on ergotism having been the cause of the Salem witch trials.

Finally, the alkaloids can also pass through lactation from mother to child, causing ergotism in infants.

Rye, the main vector for transmitting ergotism, was not grown much around the Mediterranean.

Consumption of ergot-infected rye by humans and animals results in a serious medical condition known as ergotism.

Modern methods of grain cleaning have significantly reduced ergotism as a human disease, however it is still an important veterinary problem.

Esprit in the year 1951, which many writers have attributed to ergot-containing bread, actually had nothing to do with ergotism.

He studied medicine in Paris, obtaining his doctorate in 1846 with a dissertation on ergotism.

Ergotism (this meaning particularly common in France and Germany)

These can cause ergotism, a serious condition affecting the nervous and circulatory systems, sometimes leading to permanent injury or death.

On the other hand, since entire batches of rye flour were contaminated, ergotism tended to cause epidemics rather than individual cases.

But the adrenaline only intensified the symptoms of ergotism, made the patients even wilder, and might even have caused them to burn out.

Poisonings due to consumption of seeds treated with mercury compounds are sometimes misidentified as ergotism.

Is it called ergotism?

Ergotism can cause hallucinations, but cannot account for the other strange behaviour most commonly identified with dancing mania.

Convulsive ergotism: epidemics of the serotonin syndrome?

With this discovery, more efforts were developed to reduce scerotia from growing on rye and ergotism became rare.

Ergotism, poisoning from a mold that grows on damp rye flour, has been known to cause hallucinations and confusion since the dark ages.

In less wealthy countries, ergotism still occurs; an outbreak in Ethiopia occurred in mid-2001 from contaminated barley.

The hypothesis that ergotism could explain cases of bewitchment has been subject to debate and has been criticized by several scholars.

In the past, many such afflictions, including ergotism, erysipelas, and shingles, were historically referred to as "St. Anthony's fire."