ABSTRACT
Coturnism is an acute myoglobinuric syndrome which affects only sensitive individuals when they eat Coturnix coturnix (quail). Symptoms start 1 to 9 hr after eating quails. Blood examination shows the presence of large amounts of substances liberated from muscle cells. The quail itself cannot be the causative factor since the incidents are few. One could support the view that the poisoning is due to a metabolite which is accumulated in the muscles of the quails during their migratory journey. But in such a case incidents would also have been more frequent because in Lesbos all quails are shot shortly after their arrival on the island and all are exhausted. This type of poisoning has a number of common points with two other food poisonings, the myoglobinuria caused by fish (Haff Disease) and the hemoglobinura caused by fava beans (Favism).
