23 Jan 2018

1080 poisoning ruled out for illness in wild boar case

From Morning Report, 8:27 am on 23 January 2018

Yesterday we spoke to Sue Grey the lawyer for a Putaruru family struck down with a mystery illness initially thought to be botulism after eating wild boar. They are battling to have that diagnosis overturned and access to ACC reinstated. Ms Grey said yesterday the hospital hadn't excluded 1080 poisoning. We asked the Waikato District Health Board to respond. They sent a written statement and said 1080 poisoning could not have caused the paralysis suffered by the members of the family. The DHB says initial indications pointed to botulism and the family responded to a botulism anti-toxin. Testing for botulism later came back negative, and doctors had since told the family they believe they ingested an unspecified neurotoxin with the meat. The DHB says the cause of the illness may never be known but there's no evidence to suggest it's a public health issue. It adds that if 1080 had been present it would have been identified, but the clinical signs and time lines involved rule it out as a possible cause.