Cantharidin poisoning with neurological complications

Two cases of cantharidin poisoning are described in which the patients developed the well-known complications of acute renal failure and pseudopolycythaemia. In addition both developed a Guillain-Barré type of flaccid paralysis but spontaneous reversal occurred. Cantharidin poisoning may be responsible for some of the unexplained neurological presentations in Black South Africans.