Selenium Sulfide Intoxication

FOR many years it has been known that "alkali disease" of cattle is due to the ingestion of grains and grasses growing in soil containing selenium. More recently selenium has been an industrial hazard due to the ingestion or inhalation of selenium compounds. The introduction of selenium sulfide as a treatment for seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp was therefore attended by considerable apprehension. However, in spite of repeated warnings of potential toxicity, the medical literature, past and present, attests to its extremely poor absorption through intact skin, when it is used properly as a shampoo, and thus to its relative . . .