"Diagnostic Mousetrap" is an article in the June 1977 issue of the British Journal of Hospital Medicine in which two doctors from Hammersmith London record how Agatha Christie's accurate description of the poisonous effects of thallium helped to save the life of a young girl.
According to Drs T. G. Matthews and V. Dubowitz, the patient, a 19-month old girl from Qatar had been admitted to intensive care at Hammersmith. Her symptoms were puzzling and the various lab tests which were conducted could not identify what the problem was. Over the next few days, the girl's situation deteriorated but the medical staff were still at a loss for a diagnosis.
Fortunately, one of the nurses, one Marsha Maitland, who was looking after the girl happened to be reading Christie's The Pale Horse. While the doctors were doing a ward round, she "peered over the top of the book she was reading and interrupted the discussion" and suggested that the girl seemed to have thallium poisoning. The medical staff were surprised but the nurse pointed out that Christie's novel related to a series of thaliium poisonings and "the symptoms were remarkably similar to those of the child and equally bizarre". One consistent feature stressed in the book seemed to be loss of hair and this was indeed observed in the child as well.
The doctors checked and their laboratory was unable to carry out a test for thallium. So they approached Scotland Yard who referred them to a lab which could. Scotland Yard also referred them to a local expert on thallium poisoning: an inmate of Wormwood Scrubs Prison. This convict, Graham F. Young, had studied the effects of thallium poisoning on his pet rabbits and continued his experiments on some close relatives, his parents, and then on some workplace colleagues. He was eventually caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. Throughout his activities, he had apparently kept "very meticulous notes".
The results of the lab test on the girl showed that she had more than 10 times the permitted maximum levels of thallium in her body. Checks revealed that the source was likely to be domestic poison used to eliminate cockroaches and rodents in their home.
Despite the fact that the prognosis was poor because neurological symmptoms had set in, a decision was made to treat her. After three weeks she began to show obvious improvement and the girl was discharged. A follow up assessment of the girl 4 months later "showed remarkable improvement".
In conclusion, the doctors acknowledged their indebtedness to Nurse Maitland "for keeping up up to date on the literature", and to Agatha Christie "for her excellent and perceptive clinical descriptions". The doctors noted that screening for thallium is not routine in the country and "it would be reassuing if a simple test ... was introduced by toxicology laboratories, just in case Agatha Christie's book goes out of print."
External links[]
- This story was susequently reported in many newspapers such as Washington Post June 24, 1977.
- The original article in the British Journal of Hospital Medicine can be found here.