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ative for bacteria. Nevertheless he had a highly elevated white blood cell
count. He received antibiotics but soon went into kidney and cardiac fail-
ure, and died on 11 September.
An autopsy revealed pulmonary edema due to heart failure, fatty
change of the liver pointing to toxemia, and hemorrhagic necrosis of the
small intestines and the lymph glands in the right groin. Microscopic ex-
amination showed small hemorrhages throughout the heart muscle. Be-
cause of suspected toxemia, tissue samples of the right thigh area af-
fected, along with the matching piece of tissue from the rear part of the
left thigh, were sent to the Chemical Defense Establishment at Porton
Down to be examined in an attempt to isolate and identify any toxin.
During the histological examination a pinhead-like metallic object was
found. This seemed to be a small metallic bead with two holes drilled in it
at right angles. It was made of rare metals (90 percent platinum and 10
percent iridium) and measured 1.53 millimeters across with holes 0.34
millimeters in diameter. The holes could possibly have contained about
500 micrograms of toxin covered with a wax or a sugar coating that
would melt as a result of body heat.
No poison was ever detected in this pellet or in the tissues examined.
However, on the basis of Markov's symptoms, the Porton Down analysts
speculated that the poison was most likely ricin, a highly toxic molecule
extracted from the castor bean plant
Ricinus communis.
Almost everything
else was ruled out in accord with the degree of toxicity that had to be
achieved and the symptoms that were observed. However, no antibodies
to ricin could be found in blood samples taken at the time of autopsy (not
surprising, given the short interval between the presumed exposure and
death).
The presumptions seemed to be supported by another incident that oc-
curred in Paris some two weeks before the Markov case and involved
Vladimir Kostov, a Bulgarian State Radio and Television correspondent
who had defected to Paris in June 1978. On 26 August he was on the
Metro when he heard a sound like an air gun being discharged behind
him and felt a blow to his back, which later showed a small red spot. He
became ill and was in the hospital for 12 days with a fever, from which he
did, however, recover. Because of the Markov case, Kostov was reexam-
ined sometime later, and X rays showed a foreign body in the region of
the wound on his back. A pellet identical with that found in Markov's
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