22 Gold Miners Suspected To Have Cyanide Poisoning

“Cyanide can penetrate the human body through the digestive system when people eat food or drink water infected with the substance, or through the respiratory system when people inhale the air containing evaporated cyanide, or through the skin,” Dr Tran Ba Thoai, of the Hoan My Hospital in Da Nang, said. 

Once in the body, cyanide will connect with the Fe2+ radical of an enzyme named cytochrome oxidase to cause difficulty of breathing, leading to suffocation, the doctor said. 

Cyanide prevents the cells of an organism from using oxygen, primarily through the inhibition of cytochrome oxidase. Inhalation of high concentrations of cyanide can bring about a coma, often with seizures, apnea, and cardiac arrest, with death following in a matter of minutes, according to some medical websites. 
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