
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 4, 1994                   TAG: 9411040125
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-15   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: RIVERSIDE, CALIF.                                LENGTH: Medium

`MYSTERY FUMES' MAY HAVE BEEN A DEADLY TOXIN

The ``mystery fumes'' that felled emergency-room attendants as they treated a dying cancer patient last February most likely were the result of a bizarre chain of chemical reactions in the patient's blood, producing an agent that has been used in chemical warfare, officials announced Thursday.

The potentially lethal toxin, which caused six people to be hospitalized, was created by an unusual confluence of chemical reactions that began inside the body of Gloria Ramirez, according to chemists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

``There are some emergency-room personnel who could be very lucky to be alive,'' said Riverside County Coroner Scotty Hill, who released the report.

The findings, which scientists say still may be amended after peer review, appears to resolve a baffling medical mystery that generated worldwide notoriety.

While such an episode has not been documented previously, scientists now worry that it could occur again because it probably was prompted by the use of a popular home remedy for aches and pains.

If the scenario occurred, the Lawrence Livermore report stated, it ``might be a condition for more widespread concern'' in other hospitals around the country.

County officials said they no longer believe the attendants in the Riverside General Hospital emergency room succumbed to mass hysteria on the night of Feb. 19, as the state Department of Health Services previously concluded.

Dr. Julie Gorchynski, who sustained permanent knee damage, said she found the fumes explanation plausible.

``At least it puts the mass-hysteria [conclusion] to rest. That wasn't doing much for my reputation,'' she said. ``I always knew it was a chemical exposure to something, and I'm happy that they've finally come up with it, even though it took eight months.''

But the attorney for the Ramirez family - which, like Gorchynski and other emergency-room doctors - has sued the county, said he remained skeptical.

``The coroner's office is still saying she died of cervical cancer, but now they're saying she created a chemical warfare agent that didn't hurt her,'' said lawyer Ron Schwartz. ``That doesn't make sense to me.''

He accused Hill of releasing the report as a way to resolve the mystery just days before he stands for re-election as the county coroner.

The Lawrence Livermore scientists said the chemical reaction that may have occurred in Ramirez could have been ``unique to her specific pathology.''

Lawrence Livermore scientists said their hypothesis results from a scenario re-created in their laboratories. The scenario produced the toxic crystal dimethyl sulfate, which is listed in scientific literature as a chemical warfare agent that can lead to death.

Scientists believe that, in the Ramirez case, the progenitor of the chemical reaction was the woman's presumed use of dimethyl sulfoxide, commonly known as DMSO.

by CNB