Hepatic and renal toxicity among patients ingesting sheep bile as an unconventional remedy for diabetes mellitus--Saudi Arabia, 1995.

A recent report of acute hepatic and renal toxicity associated with drinking bile from fish (grass carp) alerted epidemiologists in Saudi Arabia to the possibility of similar risks associated with an existing practice of drinking sheep bile. To assess the prevalence and adverse effects of this practice, in 1995 the Field Epidemiology Training Program of the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia initiated an investigation in Al-Wadein village (1995 population: 5640) in the Asir Region of Saudi Arabia where a traditional healer had advised patients with diabetes to drink raw sheep bile as a treatment for their diabetes. This report presents the findings of the investigation, which demonstrate gastrointestinal, hepatic, and renal toxicity associated with ingestion of sheep bile.