[3 cases of tetradontidae poisoning observed in France]

The authors report 3 cases of food poisoning, one of them leading to a swift death, which they were able to observe on 1st January 1978 in the Drôme (France). They explain how burbot was the suspected food responsible for the auto-intoxication and how the X ray examination of the vertebrae of this fish allowed them to support the diagnosis of "tetrodonic" poisoning; the inquest did not allow to state precisely where the fish was caught. With regard to these French cases the authors point out that this type of pathology is made possible by the increasing importing of fish from tropical regions, in powder form or frozen products.