Science and Medicine

Ergotism

Ergotism (pronounced UR-gət-iz-əm) is the effect of long-term ergot poisoning, frequently due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpurea fungus—from the Latin clava "club" or clavus "nail" and -ceps for "head", i.e. the purple club-headed fungus—that infects rye and other cereals, and more recently by the action of a number of ergoline-based drugs. It is also known as ergotoxicosis, ergot poisoning, and Saint Anthony's fire.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Barefoot doctor
• ▸Bulgarians
• ▸Diversity of fish

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.