ArmaForce Death in Australia most likely Endotoxin Anaphylaxis
37-year-old man died after taking Blackmores subsidiary Bioceuticals Armaforce
Reported in Fairfax media on 6 July 2024 was a case of a young man who was named Cale Agosta, a Queensland father of two, and died after taking ArmaForce herbal “Vegan” extract pills marked “PRACTITIONER ONLY” .1
TGA has 300 reports of Anaphylaxis or Hypersensitivity reactions to medicines containing the Andrographis since 2005, more than 200 have been logged since 2019, according to the article by Mary Ward.
As my readers know, many plants have high Endotoxin contamination.2
So when I looked at Armaforce tablets I saw Andrographis mentioned as major ingredient. I don’t know what “Standardised” means.
In less than 5 minutes googling, I found this bitter herb typically contains massive amounts of Endotoxin as displayed in this graph3 for a number of plants analyzed by the Horsehoe Crab LAL test.
The Figure caption reads:
Figure 7. Endotoxin concentration present in botanical extracts. Endotoxin concentrations in the botanical extracts listed were measured using a modified Limulus Amebocyte Lysate assay. Concentrations (Endotoxin Units/ml; EU/ml) were determined by comparison to an Escherichia coli standard solution. For Astragalus and Urtica, multiple extract preparations were prepared at different times using multiple lots of plant material obtained from the supplier (Samples I–IV and Samples I–V, respectively).
Notice the Logarithmic Scale and wide variation between lots in Endotoxin.
This hopefully will alert people who pay lots of dollars for pep pills that they need to think about all of the ingredients and their risks.
As we know, the TGA will refuse to release any Endotoxin measurements it might have made on ArmaForce and related products.
I read that there is also Andrographis throat spray which would facilitate Death by Anaphylaxis.4
I will add more information later, but please share to alert people of the Fatal Hazard.
Mary Ward. 6 July 2024. TGA to review warnings after young father’s supplement death. https://www.smh.com.au/national/tga-to-review-warnings-after-young-father-s-supplement-death-20240703-p5jqwb.html
Endotoxin Inhalation Hazard
In a recent article I discussed the exposure of Mice to nebulized Endotoxin to deliberately inflame their Lungs. Thought I should throw a few references together on Inhalation risks of these bacterial cell wall fragments.Geoff Pain PhD is a reader-supported publication. Please consider upgrading to paid subscriber.
Karen L. Denzler, Robert Waters, Bertram L. Jacobs, Yvan Rochon, Jeffrey O. Langland. 2010. Regulation of Inflammatory Gene Expression in PBMCs by Immunostimulatory Botanicals. PLoS ONE. 5(9):e12561
CARPA Jab Anaphylaxis caused by Endotoxin
Paul Ehrlich Institute in Germany is named after the discoverer of the Complement System of Immunity and numerous other advances in the study of pathogens. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1908. CARPA is Anaphylaxis Since the pioneering naming of the heat-sensitve component of circulating blood involved in innate immunity
Thanks for the warning ! most people think that herbal supplements are all safe. you only have to look at a few deadly poisonous plants like foxglove to know this is not true. Every so often I see people who plant their herbs right next to it, and warn them for the danger. When rainwater drips off its leaves onto your spinach an you eat that, you are dead. So even herbal meds need to be checked carefully. With internet available you would think every one does the research, but few do. Also, with the world wide open, lots of unknown plants come from everywhere, and that makes things harder to research.
If you have a look at the 'other' ingredients in medicines and supplements (most of the time they aren't listed on the packaging) it's disgusting what they contain. Many of these ingredients are harmful.
https://www.ebs.tga.gov.au/servlet/xmlmillr6?dbid=ebs/PublicHTML/pdfStore.nsf&docid=340712&agid=%28PrintDetailsPublic%29&actionid=1