It is not debatable, at the age of 32 Alexander the Great
had almost literally conquered the world. Every conquest seemed to go his way
or no way. Fast and furious. Just as fast as success had come his side of the
divide so did death.
A ten day history of a mysterious illness left him lifeless,
again literally. The ‘great’ had been conquered and vanquished by the muscles
of his own body. In the 10 days he could not breath leave alone unsheathe the
sword.
Nobody has ever explained to our conviction what killed Alexander
the great, some say it was due to malaria. Others speculate that it was
typhoid, typhoid would make its victim vomit and also has central nervous
system manifestations.
For the world’s love of drama and intrigue, poisoning was
the most plausible explanation. For Alexander’s
symptoms of vomiting, tremors and seizures, a plant in the genre of
alkaloids known as belladonna was accepted as the most likely instrument used
to stop this seemingly unstoppable man.
George H. W. Bush, in 1992 had an incident almost similar to
what the Late Mutula Kilonzo had. After a tennis match, which he participated while
in Japan, it is documented that the former US president vomited until he was
unconscious. His was more dramatic as it was captured live by ABC news, a head of state vomiting to unconscious would definitely
be attributed to poisoning, what else could it be? He later confessed having
suffered from a typical flu which was confirmed.
A joke is made in Japanese that if they say they will make
you ‘Bushu suru’they mean they will make you vomit and pass out like Bush.
There are several causes of sudden death. Here are some of
them;
1.
Cardiac death; usually sudden and would occur
within an hour or so. Vomiting may be involved together with frothing of the
mouth.
2.
Respiratory; where vomiting may precede it and
aspiration of the vomitus leaves you as dead as a dodo
3.
Herbal medication and some herbs we use as
spices may actually be poisons. I recently experienced a case where 3 children
from Giriama died suddenly after feeding on some cassava species. Their parents
remained well and alive.
4.
Poisoning, accidental or intentional, may
require a high index of suspicion in order to collect and process the
appropriate toxicology specimens, particularly if a volatile substance is
suspected. Some poisonous agents, such as cyanide, can only be smelled by
genetically-able individuals (the classic burnt almond smell) and thus may go
unnoticed
The onus task lies in the hands of the pathologist to
interpret whatever findings they get astutely. Sensationalism must be avoided. A
negative autopsy is an expected outcome, similarly a positive finding does not necessarily
point towards the cause of death. It is said, a person can live with a disease which
won’t necessarily be the cause of his death.
To that end, I ask, who killed Alexander the great?
#RIP Hon Mutula
Kilonzo and the 3 Giriama boys
