Incident of gelsemine poisoning caused by migrant workers drinking self-made medicinal wine

ObjectiveTo investigate the causes of food poisoning at migrant labourers′ dinner, making suggestions to prevent similar poisoning incidents.

MethodsA combination of field epidemiological investigation, clinical diagnosis and laboratory test was made for comprehensive analysis on causes of the poisoning.

ResultsAll 15 migrant workers who drank the self-made wine fell prey to poisoning.The incubation period was 0.5 to 1 hours.Those drinking more had faster onset in worse condition and three of them died. The mortality was 20%.Two of them who did not drink were not ill.Detection and identification showed that the remaining wine the workers drank that night contained gelsemine.

ConclusionThe incident of food poisoning was caused by drinkding gelsemine-contained toxic plant wine of Gelsemium elegans.