Treating Amanita phalloides poisoning: is silibinin superior to chicken dung?

Milk thistle 2.5 out of 5 stars Amanita phalloides poisoning and treatment with silibinin in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. Roberts DM et al. Med J Aust 3013 Jan 21;198:43-47 Abstract In one of his published works, the second-century Roman physician Galen related an anecdotal method of treating mushroom poisoning: I have heard of a physician of Mysia who administered Fowl’s dung to persons suffering form fungus poisoning, and I myself have experimented with the remedy. I have used finally powdered dung mixed with water or mixed with honey and vinegar The patients immediately on drinking the mixture vomited and recovered. One must observe that the dung of a fowl at liberty is more efficacious than one in confinement.               Unfortunately, in the two millennia since Galen advocated the therapeutic benefits of ingesting chicken shit (and free-range chicken shit at that!) we really haven’t discovered any specific antidotes with proven efficacy. Not that possible candidates have not been put forward.  High-dose penicillin-G, thioctic acid, dexamethasone, cimetidine, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), silymarin, and silibinin have all been tried; none has been proven to improve clinical outcomes. Silibinin and silymarin are extracts of the milk thistle plant (Silybum marianum). It is thought that silibinin may inhibit entry of amatoxin through cell membrane receptor sites. This observational retrospective case series looked at patients adm...
Source: The Poison Review - Category: Toxicology Authors: Tags: Medical amanita phalloides Australia milk thistle mushroom poisoning silibinin silymarin Source Type: news