HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT VOMITING?

According to some biologists, the smell of one person’s vomit can trigger vomiting in others. This reaction is regarded as an advantage for the survival of the group in case the one vomiting ate some disagreeable food the others might be likely to eat as well. I myself felt like vomiting when, in THE DEADLIEST LIE, Miriam tells of her friend’s fit:

When his cough returned, it was more virulent than ever, a wracking, hacking, chest-rattling, ear-grating, convulsive cough, culminating in a violent fit of gags and heaves as plumes of a crimson lava gushed from his mouth, cascading down the front of my tunic and painting the polished floor tiles red.

But vomiting need not be a reaction to only a poison. Sometimes it’s a reaction to an illness, even a heart attack. And that’s Miriam’s problem in THE DEADLIEST FEVER, the fourth book in her series. The victim experiences a fit of vomiting followed by convulsions, heart failure, and death. But was he poisoned or did he die naturally of a heart attack? Hard to tell, but trust Miriam, an accomplished alchemist, to discern the difference.

As soon as I know, I’ll tell you the release date for THE DEADLIEST FEVER. In the meantime, learn all you can about vomiting. And I don’t mean about a vomitorium, which is not gross at all (see my blog of September 8, 2015, http://www.junetrop.com/#!blog/c22je/page/5). For example, do you know the difference between vomiting and regurgitation?