Toxic myopathy with rhabdomyolysis after quail poisoning

Although quail poisoning is known from ancient and Byzantine times, its etiology is still unknown. In modern times myoglobinuria due to quail poisoning was reported in a few mediterranean countries. We report the first italian case. A 40-year-old woman presented with nausea, vomiting, and severe muscular pain, stiffness and weakness. She referred the onset of symptoms five hours after the consumption of quail, which had been hunted by her husband. CK raised up to 33981 U/l the day after the onset. Serum myoglobin was 7610 ug/1 (n.v. 0-70), but she had no pigmenturia. EMG and SFEMG were normal Muscle biopsy did not evidence significant abnormalities. Activities of muscle glycolytic enzymes and camitine palmityl transferase resulted normal. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in red blood cells was normal She recovered within six days after onset of the symptoms Her husband, who was also eating quails on the same occasion, did not present any muscular complaints. Our results reinforces the hypothesis that a toxic factor, most likely represented b> seeds ingested by the birds, associated to a genetic susceptibility, should be implicated in the etiology of quail poisoning.