A Chilean court has ordered a re-examination of the 1973 death of Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, in part due to the work of McMaster University researchers in Hamilton.
Neruda’s cause of death was listed as prostate cancer. It occurred shortly after the military coup that thrust Gen. Augusto Pinochet into power.
After Neruda’s body was exhumed in 2013, McMaster anthropology researchers Debi and Hendrik Poinar analyzed tooth and bone fragments and determined botulism-causing bacteria — Clostridium botulinum — were in Neruda’s blood. Clostridium botulinum produces dangerous toxins that can attack the nervous system.
Researcher Debi Poinar, shown with husband and biologist Hendrik Poinar, left to right, says their research found Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium
