>From:    Megan O'Shaughnessy DC <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: more on owies / allergies?
>Just had another thought; mashed raw garlic spread on a wound tends to have
>an adhesive effect as it dries out.  Plus if you use FRESH raw garlic (as
>opposed to the canned jars of previously chopped garlic) you can also get
>some of the effect of allicin, the primary ingredient of garlic which helps
>to act as an antibiotic.  (Allicin breaks down very quickly in contact with
>air, however, so you want to apply it quick.) Rumor has it garlic was used
>like this quite a bit back in WWI, before penicillin came along.  And the
>taste might prevent the beasties from licking???
    [and]
>From:    Megan O'Shaughnessy DC <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Botulism
>I got a reply to my garlic post which asked whether botulism might be a
>danger, since the person in question had heard of it being a problem in
>homemade garlic infusions.  My answer's repeated here (hopefully its not
>too long!) in case anyone else wondered, and to shed some light on
>botulism.  Caveat: I'm a chiropractor, not a veterinarian.
 
Megan-
 
While I don't know that much about the healing properties (reported to be
bactericidal, insecticidal, antiviral and fungicidal properties - besides
tasting great with pasta and shrimp) or the C. botulinum content of garlic,
I do know that garlic (Allium sativum) is in the same family as onion
(Allium cepa & canadense - cultivated and wild onion, respectively).  When
consumed (raw, cooked, dried, in "old" formulations of baby food, topical
salve, etc.) these vegetables and their extracts can be toxic.  Garlic and
onion both contain allyl disulfides such as allicin (as you indicated)
which can cause oxidative erythrocyte (red blood cell) damage resulting in
Heinz body (denatured hemoglobin) anemia and methemoglobin (non-oxygen
carrying form of hemoglobin), leading to hemolysis and hypoxia.  In
addition to hemolytic anemia, contact dermatitis and asthmatic attacks have
also been reported with topical application of garlic extracts and oil
(Poppenga.  Risks Associated with Herbal Remedies.  General Pharmacology
and Toxicology.  Course 2001 at Univ.  Pennsylvania School Vet Medicine.
Q3, 1998; Ettinger and Feldman.  Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
1995. pp. 323t, 324t, 1884).  Also, I didn't realize that "Allicin breaks
down very quickly in contact with air," perhaps you could send me the
reference for that information.
 
The part that I am concerned about is that no one (to my knowledge) really
knows what the dose for acute toxicity or the LD50 of garlic is in most
animals (especially ferrets).  I did find out that various garlic extracts
(given by various routes) has LD50s in rats and mice ranging from 0.5ml/kg
to 30ml/kg body weight (probably depends upon concentration and route of
administration).  This is not to say that garlic salve doesn't have
beneficial properties, it's just that I don't know that many animals that
don't lick off any applied topical treatments (despite the taste) and I
wouldn't want to take a chance without understanding some of the possible
consequences.  Animals obviously have different behaviors (licking topical
medications) and different sizes, but they also have different physiologies
- all of which can lead to "unexpected" results.
 
-Sean
 
PS.  by the way, what is a "home-made infusion"?
 
******************************
Sean D. Sawyer V'00
University of Pennsylvania
School of Veterinary Medicine
 
[log in to unmask]
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[Posted in FML issue 2436]