1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 1: Today's episode once again discusses the depths of individuals. If 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: this sort of thing upsets you, may it suggest you 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: read a book, maybe something like Cannery Row. Well, you 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: may have the more with their host, doctor Kinder crowns 5 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: to day's episode Foraging Misadventures. When I was driving to 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: work the other day, I heard his story on the radio. 7 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 1: It was about individuals in Arizona that were reportedly licking toads. Evidently, 8 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: recent unseasonal monsoonal rains in Arizona had caused an increase 9 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: in the appearance of this particular toad. The toads had 10 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: come out of their ground habitats to breed in the 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: puddling water. People believed that if they catched these toads 12 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: and licked them, they would get high. When I heard this, 13 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: it reminded me of a couple of my high school 14 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: friends from years ago. They were really into drugs, and 15 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,119 Speaker 1: they were really into hallucinogenic drugs and often talked about 16 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: finding new ones. And somehow they had heard a story 17 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: about toads that if you licked them you could have 18 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: a crazy hallucinogenic experience. Where they found this information out 19 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: about these magical toads I still don't know to this day, 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: but I know they went on a hunt to find 21 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: one of them in the wilds of Kansas, and they 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: were definitely armed with bad information because they caught a 23 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: couple of the toads and attempted to lick them and 24 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: ended up throwing up for about twenty four hours. They 25 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: showed my other friends and I the toads that they 26 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: had caught. They were large, light yellow toads with dark 27 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: green spots that were outlined by a lighter color. They 28 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: had a large lump between their eyes and numerous warts 29 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: on their body. Comparing them to pictures in a book, 30 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: it appears they had caught a great plane's toad, which 31 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: is very common in Kansas and not known to secrete 32 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: halloo synogens. It is instead known for secreting a toxic 33 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: substance known as buffo toxin. And they were lucky that 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: all they did was get nausey and vomiting, because if 35 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: this toxin is in high enough levels, it can actually 36 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: make you go into heart failure. I had forgotten about 37 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: this until I heard this radio show all these years later, 38 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: and I thought, are these indeed the magical toads my 39 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: friends were looking for and after a little research I 40 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: found out they just might be. The mythical toad from 41 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: my high school friend's quest is known as the Sonara 42 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: Desert toad or Colorado River toad. It is a large 43 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: olive green to brownish gray toad with relatively smooth skin 44 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: and prominent prodiglands behind each eye in some large wartz 45 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,359 Speaker 1: on its hind legs. It can be found in Colorado, California, 46 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: New Mexico, and Arizona, but definitely not Kansas. So my 47 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: friends had been doomed to failure from the start. This 48 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 1: toad is special because it secretes a toxin from its 49 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: parodi gland, known as five methoxy dimethyl trip tomine, which 50 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: is a neurotoxin and actually, in humans, a powerful hallucinogenic 51 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: which can cause audio and visual distortions, alter your perception 52 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: of time, as well as amplifying emotional states and feeling 53 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: of awareness. It can even make you feel like you've 54 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: been reborn. The effects can last for an hour and 55 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: leave the user with an altered mood in perception and 56 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: so really, can you go on a magic carpet ride 57 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: by catching one of these toes and having a good lick? 58 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: I had to find out the answer to this question, 59 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: and the answer is possibly, but not by directly licking them. 60 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: In fact, what most people do is extract the five 61 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: methoxydimethyl trip to meine and make it into a paste 62 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: and smoke it or do other things with it, but 63 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: not lick the toad. Problem with licking the toad is 64 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: the substances they are releasing, or when they are captured 65 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: by a predator, picked up in a dog's mouth or 66 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: something like that, and they release these substances as a 67 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: fear response, and they don't regulate how much they release, 68 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: and so you never know how much you're going to 69 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: get when you attempt to lick one, and if you 70 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: get too much of the toxin, it can actually cause 71 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,919 Speaker 1: you to have a seizure, go into a coma, and 72 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: even die suddenly. Plus they secrete other toxins as well, 73 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: which are cardiac glycosides which can cause gastrointestinal issues like 74 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: lousy and vomiting and diarrhea, And they can also be cardiotoxic, 75 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: which means it results in poisoning of your heart. And 76 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: these toxins can cause your heart to slow down, cause 77 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: a regular heart rates or dysrhythmias, which can result in 78 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,359 Speaker 1: sudden death. From an article I read, it's stated toad 79 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: poisoning comes with a high mortality rate, So if you're 80 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: into licking toads, it's a risky endeavor that can result 81 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: in death, and I wouldn't recommend it. Often when people 82 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: experience nature, they take in the beauty, they see, the sights, 83 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: they smell the smells, they take scenic pictures. They don't 84 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: seek out peril or things that can result in disastrous consequences. 85 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: But some people, often males, actively seek these things out 86 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: and more often than not, their actions result in a 87 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: free trip to the morgue. And also, we will be 88 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: playing a double header of everybody's favorite true crime game show, 89 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: Is It Alcohol, Meth or Women? So get your scantron 90 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: answer sheets out, sharpen your number two pencils, and have 91 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,599 Speaker 1: your answers ready at the end of each case. So 92 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: let's get started. The first case we'll be discussing. As 93 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: a twenty year old male, he loved to go hiking 94 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: in the forest and experiencing nature firsthand. And on his 95 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 1: latest hike, he saw what he thought were magic mushrooms. 96 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: He went to the library, looked them up, studied pictures 97 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: and flipped through many books on mushrooms, and it was 98 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: certain he was right. He told his friends he had 99 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: discovered magic mushrooms, and he was certain of it because 100 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 1: he had seen pictures in the library. And he said 101 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: he was going to go back out there and harvest them, 102 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: and asked if they wanted to come along, to which 103 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: they all said no, and he said, well, okay, he 104 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 1: would bring them back to share with them and they 105 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: would all have a great party. The problem is, though 106 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: a lot of mushrooms can look alike, mushrooms are the 107 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: member of the Kingdom fungi, which is one of the 108 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: largest most diverse groups of organisms, second only to insects. 109 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: It has been estimated that there are more than ten 110 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,919 Speaker 1: thousand species of mushrooms found in the United States and 111 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: the area he was living in in the state of Illinois, 112 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: there are at least two thousand species that can occur, 113 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: and some of them are edible, and some of them 114 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: are deadly, and those deadly ones are fairly similar in 115 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: appearance to the safe ones. Steak can have horrible consequences. 116 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: When he went out, he ended up finding his quarry. 117 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: They were growing in abundance in the wet Illinois woodlands, 118 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: popping up on the rotting wood of fallen trees. He 119 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: picked dozens of mushrooms and brought them home. He then 120 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: dried them out over the next few weeks. Excited about 121 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: the possibilities of what was going to happen, and he 122 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: told his friends he was going to make a killer's 123 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: psychedelic tea and all his friends could come over and 124 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: drink his tea and have a crazy, wild party. When 125 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: he felt the mushrooms were sufficiently dry, he ground them up, 126 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: put them in boiling water, and made them into a tea. 127 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: He called his friends and invited them over to partake 128 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: in his concoction, but no one wanted to, and he 129 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: responded to them with, well, I guess that's more for me. 130 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: And he drank his magic elixir and he was disappointed 131 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: because nothing happened. Everything was just normal. He didn't hallucinate 132 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: or anything. After several hours, though, something did occur. He 133 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: began vomiting, and then he began having explosive diarrhea. This 134 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: was not the experience he was hoping for, and this 135 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: continued for about a day or so, and after it ended, 136 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: he called one of his friends and told him how 137 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: sick he had been, and they told him, do you 138 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: think it was the mushrooms? And he said, it's a 139 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: possibility that maybe he had gotten the wrong type of 140 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: mushrooms and he wasn't going to try them again. And 141 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: his friend told him, well, maybe he should go to 142 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:34,120 Speaker 1: the hospital and get checked out, and he said no, 143 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: he was doing better now and he was okay, so 144 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 1: he didn't need to go to the doctors. A day 145 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: or two later, he didn't show up to his job 146 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: and one of his friends went to check on him. 147 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: They had a key to his apartment and when they entered, 148 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: they found him on his bed. He was still alive, 149 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: but unresponsive and his skin was bright yellow. The friend 150 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: called emergency medical services. They responded and took him to 151 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: the hospital, where he was found to be in life 152 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: her and renal failure. He was admitted to an ICU, 153 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: put on a ventilator, and slowly progressed to multi organ 154 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: failure and eventually died after several days. At autopsy, he 155 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: had mark jaundice and scleral ictorus, which means his skin 156 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: was highlighter yellow, as well as the whites of his eyes, 157 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: and this is evidence of liver failure. Internally, there was 158 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: palmony congestion and edema, which is fluid on his lungs. 159 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,719 Speaker 1: His liver was softened in necrotic with areas of hemorrhage, 160 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: so basically the tissue was dead and there were small, 161 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: pinpoint particular hemorrhages along his kidneys and on the mucosa 162 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: of his stomach. He died from multi organ failure, it 163 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 1: was obvious, and the reason his organs went into failure 164 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: was most likely due to the mushroom concoction that he 165 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: had drank. So the question became what mushrooms were they. 166 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: We sent the death investigators back out to the apartment 167 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 1: to see if they could find the mushrooms that he 168 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: had consumed. They did find them in the trash that 169 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: is Setent had gone out in the woods to find 170 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: a particular mushroom known as a liberty bell or liberty cap, 171 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,079 Speaker 1: and these are the magic mushrooms that everybody knows. They 172 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,440 Speaker 1: are little brown mushrooms with a distinctive conical or bell 173 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 1: shaped cap that contain the psychoactive compounds psilocybin, silocin in baosysteine, 174 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: and these compounds can cause visual distortions, mood elevations, and 175 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 1: auditory hallucinations. After being dried. Magic mushrooms can be consumed. 176 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,239 Speaker 1: They can be cooked up, put in food, crushed into seasonings, 177 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: and of course made into a tea. But he didn't 178 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:42,560 Speaker 1: find those mushrooms. What he found wasn't liberty bells, but 179 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: instead mushrooms with the scientific name of Gallerina marginata, which 180 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: has the ominous name of funeral bell mushrooms. These are 181 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: relatively small, rusty brown mushrooms that can have caps that 182 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: are broadly convex to flat to slightly be l shaped, 183 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: which makes them easily mistaken for liberty bells. Funeral bells 184 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: do not contain silocybin, but instead contain the most potent 185 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: mushroom toxin known, which is called amatoxin. Amatoxin poisons the 186 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: body by causing damage to liver cells, resulting in cellular necrosis, 187 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: which then results in acute liver dysfunction and liver failure. 188 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:29,319 Speaker 1: Amatoxin is responsible for ninety percent of mushroom poisonings worldwide. 189 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: Its thermo stable, which means cooking it won't destroy it, 190 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: nor just freezing. A single mushroom can contain up to 191 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,559 Speaker 1: fifteen milligrams of the toxin and zero point one milligram 192 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: per kilogram can be fatal to humans. For perspective, one 193 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,959 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty pounds individual is roughly eighty two kilograms, 194 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: and that means eight point two milligrams would be fatal, 195 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: which is a little over half a mushroom. After the 196 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: identity the mushrooms was confirmed, the cause of death was 197 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: determined to be amatoxin toxicity and the manner of death 198 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: was determined to be accident. Case closed, So pull out 199 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:13,239 Speaker 1: your answer sheets and mark down your answers. Was it alcohol, 200 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:17,319 Speaker 1: meth or women. The answer to this case is it 201 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: was women. He was trying to impress some of the 202 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,559 Speaker 1: women at work with his forestry knowledge and his fancy 203 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: psychedelic concoctions, but he had picked the wrong mushrooms and 204 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 1: thankfully the women he was trying to impress didn't come over, 205 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 1: so we didn't get multiple deaths. The rest of his 206 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: drug screen was negative, no alcohol, no math, amphetamine, even 207 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 1: no marijuana. It was just his poor foraging skills that 208 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: resulted in his death. This case was a twenty eight 209 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: year old meal who was swimming in a lake with 210 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,079 Speaker 1: his friends. His friends witnessed him to start struggling to 211 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: stay afloat and he went under water and didn't resurface. 212 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: His friends panicked. They began swimming and looking for him, 213 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: and they eventually found him after several minutes deep under water. 214 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: They pulled him ashore and began performing cardipolinary resuscitation and 215 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,680 Speaker 1: called nine one one. Emergency Medical services arrived and took 216 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: the CPR over and he was eventually airlifted to a hospital. 217 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,720 Speaker 1: They had gone return of spontaneous circulation, so his heart 218 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,680 Speaker 1: was beating, and a CTA of his head was done, 219 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: but it showed he had hypoxic ischemic injury, which means 220 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: his brain had not gotten enough oxygen and was basically dead. 221 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: A ct of his chest and abdomen showed extensive changes 222 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: of his lungs consistent with drowning, and also foreign bodies 223 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: in his mouth, the bronchi of the right love of 224 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: his lung, and in his stomach. He was placed on 225 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 1: a ventilator and admitted to the ICU, where he continued 226 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:52,320 Speaker 1: to decline and eventually was pronounced dead. I performed his 227 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: autopsy and he was a well developed, well nourished male, 228 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: appearing the reported age. He had swelling of his brain 229 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: or cerebral edema in fluid on his lungs or polmeriadimo. 230 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: All these findings are consistent with drowning. When I opened 231 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: up his stomach, it contained numerous intact and crushed shells. 232 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: I cleaned them up and looked at them more closely, 233 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 1: and they were zebra muscle shells, and I instantly knew 234 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: what they were. The shells were also located in esophagus, 235 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: and bits and pieces of the crust strup shells were 236 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 1: embedded in the roof of his mouth and in his 237 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: gums and tongue. Evidently, while he was out with his friends, 238 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: he had decided to consume zebra muscles raw and chew 239 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:38,440 Speaker 1: them and crunch their shells. We had the death investigators 240 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: do follow up questioning, and when they questioned his friends 241 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,160 Speaker 1: that were at the scene, no one claimed to have 242 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: seen him eat anything. But it was obvious he had 243 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: done this intentionally. But why law enforcement came up with 244 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: the theory that the zebra muscles could have gotten into 245 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: his mouth and stomach after he died. But the thing 246 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: about it is is he didn't die initially, he was 247 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 1: on respond and also he wasn't underwater long enough for 248 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: the zebra muscles to even gotten on his body or 249 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: moved in because they don't move that fast, and there 250 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 1: had been no passive flow of water into his airway, 251 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: and because they were crushed up, he obviously had chewed them. 252 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: And again the question is why, before we go further, 253 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 1: let's talk about zebra muscles, because they did play a 254 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: role in this Seedon's death. Zebra muscles are fingernails sized 255 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: mullusks that are native to the fresh waters in Eurasia. 256 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: Their name comes from their dark zigzagging stripes on each shell. 257 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: They have a distinctive flat bottom shape to their shells 258 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: as well that allows them to sit flat against solid surfaces. 259 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: They are not native to North America and evidently arrived 260 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: here in nineteen eighty six and the ballast of Transatlantic 261 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: ships delivering goods to the US. And when the ships 262 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: entered into port, they would dump the ballast tanks and 263 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: the larvae got free and took hold in the Great Lakes. 264 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,400 Speaker 1: And after this they spread throughout the US and appear 265 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: in lakes and streams almost everywhere. And they accomplish this 266 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: by adhering to boats that wearing contaminated waterways that were 267 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: then taken to uncontaminated waterways, releasing the mollusks into a 268 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: new territory. The United States Geologic Survey as Scientific Bureau 269 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: with the Department of Interior says they do not recommend 270 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: that zebra muscles be eaten by people, but fish and 271 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: ducks eat them and don't die, so they aren't necessarily harmful. 272 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: But zebra muscles are so small that you would have 273 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: to eat a lot of them to be able to 274 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: become full, and you'd have to be pretty hungry to 275 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:45,720 Speaker 1: want to eat them. Zebra muscles reproduce rapidly and quickly 276 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: take over waterways in which they invade their filter feeders 277 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: and can filter up to a leader of water an hour, 278 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: and there'll be thousands of them filtering the water, and 279 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 1: this changes the ecosystem of the waterway that they are 280 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: in and promotes the growth of a lot of different things, 281 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: particularly harmful organisms. In this particular lake the individual was 282 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 1: swimming in when he died, the zebra muscles had promoted 283 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,400 Speaker 1: the growth of cyanobacteria, also known as blue green algae. 284 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 1: At that time of the year, there had been several 285 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: large blooms of blue green algae, especially in this lake. 286 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:22,440 Speaker 1: There were warnings put out because several dogs, in particular labradors, 287 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: had been playing in the lake and had died from 288 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,880 Speaker 1: their exposure to the algae. Cyanobacteria are the most toxic 289 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 1: algae group in freshwater lakes, rivers, and ponds. Their blooms 290 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,920 Speaker 1: can look like iridescent slicks or mats of blue green 291 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,200 Speaker 1: algae in the water, they can produce toxins known as 292 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:47,440 Speaker 1: cyanotoxins that can cause illness. Common cyanotoxins include microcystins, anotoxins, saxotoxins, 293 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,920 Speaker 1: and nodularans. These toxins can cause effects in the human 294 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: body that range from neurologic problems, liver failure, and irritation 295 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: of the skin, and when the toxins get high enough 296 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: in the water, it can pose severe health problems for 297 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:04,639 Speaker 1: people as well as birds and animals, and birds that 298 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: can result in avian vacular myelinopathy. This disease causes birds 299 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: to crash into objects, lose coordination, fall from the sky, 300 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 1: and exhibit tremors. One interesting fact is a similar neurotoxin 301 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,920 Speaker 1: called domic acid, produced by the diatom of the genus 302 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:29,439 Speaker 1: pseudo Nitzchia, caused something similar to avian vacular myelinopathy in 303 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: birds in Monterey Bay, California, in nineteen sixty one. It 304 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: caused the birds to crash into cars and houses and 305 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 1: other things, as well as fall from the sky seizing 306 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: when they were on the ground. This incident was widely 307 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 1: publicized and it became the partial inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock 308 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 1: to write his avian fueled horror movie The Birds. Cyanotoxins 309 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: also claimed canine victims due to their propensity to not 310 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: care what water they drink and their love of swimming. 311 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: The dogs drink the contamina water or lick their skin 312 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 1: covered with the itchy algae and then die from seizures 313 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: related to the neurotoxins. Humans can get exposed as well 314 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,160 Speaker 1: by swallowing the contaminated water while swimming or eating contaminated 315 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,359 Speaker 1: fish or muscles, and you can absorb it through direct 316 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: contact with skin. Symptoms and humans can vary depending on 317 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: what particular cyanotoxin was at the highest level and when 318 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: the individual gets exposed to it. With this case, there 319 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,480 Speaker 1: was no real reason why he suddenly started struggling in 320 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: the water, so it was made pending because he ate 321 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: the zebra muscles and it was so unusual. I really 322 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: thought he was going to have methamphetamine in his blood. 323 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: I had to send out his gastric contents to an 324 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: outside lab to get special tests for the cyanotoxins, and 325 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,360 Speaker 1: we waited after a few weeks as toxicology finally came 326 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: back and he was found to have several cyanotoxins, specifically microsystems, anatoxins, 327 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: and saxotoxins, and these toxins were associated with him consuming 328 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: the zebra muscles. The levels that were found in his 329 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: gastric contents were not high enough to have a lethal exposure, 330 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: but they could have been enough to cause him to 331 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: become compromised in the water, resulting in him starting to 332 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 1: struggle to stay afloat and eventually going underneath the water 333 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: and drowning. So his cosy deaths was made drowning with 334 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: a significant contributing factor of cyanotoxin toxicity, and the manner 335 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,199 Speaker 1: death was made accident due to the fact that he 336 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 1: was probably not forced to eat the muscles, and this 337 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 1: was probably something he did on his own. So case closed, 338 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: and once again pull out your answer sheets, and what 339 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: was your answer? Was it alcohol, meth or women and 340 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 1: the answer is and once again it was women. Other 341 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,240 Speaker 1: than the cyanotoxins found in his system, he showed no 342 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 1: drugs or alcohol in his toxicolity. He ate the zebra 343 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:54,199 Speaker 1: muscles completely sober, and the assumption can be made. The 344 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,639 Speaker 1: swim group he was swimming with also had several women 345 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,240 Speaker 1: in it, and he was probably trying to impress them 346 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: with his ability to eat something disgusting. As an aside, 347 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:06,719 Speaker 1: one of the guys I knew in high school, one 348 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: of the toad liquors he liked to vomit to impress girls. 349 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,879 Speaker 1: He won time, drank an entire two liter bottle of 350 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: strawberry pop and yes I say pop, not soda or coke, 351 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: and vomited in front of a group of girls at 352 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: a mall late on a Friday night. I can still 353 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: see him wearing his ACDC Fly on the Wall T 354 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: shirt with the sleeves cut off, bent over puking up 355 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: bright pink fluid that splattered all over the white and 356 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: brown tile of the mall floor. I can also remember 357 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,360 Speaker 1: the horrified expressions on the girl's faces before they quickly 358 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: ran off, screaming and saying, how discussing we were as 359 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: far as I know this tactic never worked for him, 360 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,640 Speaker 1: and after high school I lost track of him. I hope, 361 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: wherever he is that he's found someone that understands him 362 00:21:54,440 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 1: and accepts his crazy hijinks, and I hope he's happy, 363 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: and that brings us to the end of the episode. 364 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: I hope you learned something like all mushrooms are edible, 365 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: some only once, and I hope you were entertained until 366 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: the next time.