Toxicology

[jona]

I recently asked a toxicological lab to look at the evidence for Alexander's death; as someone of this group (sorry, forgotten your name) asked for the results - well, here they are.As we all must have expected, the evidence is unclear and confused. Fever, the symptom best known from Alexander's death account, can indeed be caused by poisoning, but if it's not immediately lethal, the body seems to be able to cope with it. Within a week, the poison must have left the body. So, Alexander may have been poisoned, but the murderer must have been in a position to give him several deadly potions.Without intention to say something unkind about the people who helped me - I have a feeling that this answer is incomplete.Jona

[biekie]

Once I saw a show on the Discovery Channel which was all about this subject.
According to those researchers, he was infected by a virus (don't know which anymore). Then Alexander's doctor gave him a medicine, which is toxic in high portions.
All by all, Alexander's death was no murder according to this research.

[jona]

That's the West Nile encephalitis theory, which was what made me consult the toxicologists. There's an earlier posting on the subject that includes a link to a website with several medical articles (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no7/ ... 96_320.htm ). One of them is, so to speak, lethal to the West Nile theory, because it shows that this virus is not more than 1,000 years old.Jona

[xxx]

I found the letters of dissent most amusing. Oldach based his entire theory on Alexander crying out during a drinking bout which even Plutarch dismisses, yet concludes that the authors of this article are wrong because they believed Plutarch. Part of the problem with these analyses is an adherence to current medical thought and studies which do not necessarily coincide with what was happening in the ancient world, and a rather careless reading of the sources