In the spring of 2018 patients suffering from profuse bleeding swamped emergency rooms in Illinois and Wisconsin. The cause? Synthetic cannabinoids laced with rat poison
When an outbreak of contaminated synthetic cannabinoids reached Wisconsin in 2018, scientists at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) rushed to develop the first quantitative method for diagnostic testing of brodifacoum, a powerful anticoagulant used in rat poison. Thanks to their work, patients with brodifacoum poisoning can now be treated with a precisely calibrated dose of vitamin K and that treatment can be ended when it is no longer medically necessary. Previously, physicians had to guess when to end treatment and re-start it if they guessed wrong.
WSLH’s Noel Stanton, Chemical Emergency Response Coordinator, and Bill Krick, an Advanced Chemist in the Chemical Emergency Response Unit, speak with Public Affairs Director Jan Klawitter about the test’s development and the outbreak that made it necessary.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts:
Links:
Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH)
Accolades for WSLH’s Chemical Emergency Response Team
Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2, Spice) – Wisconsin Department of Health Services
Lab Matters: Indiana and Wisconsin Respond to Synthetic Cannabinoid Contamination
