Methylmercury poisoning

Mahaffey KR. 2000. Recent advances in recognition of low-level methylmercury poisoning. Current Opinion Neurol 13 699-707. 

Ronald K, Tessaro SV, Uthe JF, Freeman HC, Frank R. 1977. Methylmercury poisoning in the harp seal (Pagophiltis gwenlandicus). Sci Tot Environ 8 1-11. 

Harada, M., Minamata disease Methylmercury poisoning in Japan caused by environmental pollution,... 

Greenwood MR (1985) Methylmercury poisoning in Iraq - an epidemiological-study of the 1971-1972 outbreak. J Appl Toxicol 5 148-159... 

Richardson etal. 1995). Some Canadian aboriginal peoples had grossly elevated blood mercury concentrations of >100 to 660 pg Hg/L, although there was no definitive diagnosis of methylmercury poisoning (Wheatley and Paradis 1995). 

Elhassani, S.B. 1983. The many faces of methylmercury poisoning. Jour. Toxicol. 19 875-906. 

Rustam H, Von Burg R, Amin-Zaki L, El Hassani S Evidence for a neuromuscular disorder in methylmercury poisoning—clinical and electrophysiological findings in moderate to severe cases. Arch Environ Health 30 190-195, 1975... 

Bakir F, Damluji SF, Amin-Zaki L, et al. Methylmercury poisoning in Iraq. Science 1973 181(196) 230-241. 

Harada M (1978) Congenital Minamata disease intrauterine methylmercury poisoning. Teratology, 18(2) 285-288. 

Chang, L.W., Guo, G.L. (1998). Fetal minamata disease congenital methylmercury poisoning. In Handbook of Developmental Neurotoxicity (W. Slikker, Jr., L.W. Chang, eds), pp. 507-15. Academic Press, San Diego. 

Japan Public Health Association (2001) Methylmercury Poisoning in Minamata and Niigata, Japan (eds. Okizawa and Osame). Tokyo, 154p. 

S4 Stalinon disaster in France. About the same time the first cases of Minimata disease (methylmercury poisoning) appear. 

Weiss B, Clarkson TW, and Simon W (2002) Silent latency periods in methylmercury poisoning and in neurodegene-rative disease. Environmental Health Perspectives 110(Suppl 5) 851-854. 

There is no known useful treatment for methylmercury poisoning. A variety of chelating agents, such as D-penicillamine, l-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine, thiol resins, activated charcoal, BAL (British Antilewisite 2,3-dimercaptopropanol), and meso-2,3-dime-rcaptosuccinic acid, have been used to treat methyl-mercury exposure but with limited to no success. 

The Minamata Bay tragedy, whereby many inhabitants of the region died or were permanently injured as a result of methylmercury poisoning is a classic example of a harmful neurotoxic exposure. A series of unforeseen circumstances combined to make this a very severe outbreak with long lasting consequences. Although the harmfulness of methylmercury had long been known, the severity of the toxic exposures involved can be attributed to several factors ... 

Organic Mercury. Limited information was located regarding respiratory effects in humans after oral exposure to organic mercury. Two boys who died after eating meat from a hog that had eaten seed treated with ethylmercuric chloride developed bronchopneumonia and edematous alveolitis, and required artificial ventilation (Cinca et al. 1979). Bronchopneumonia was also identified as the cause of death in four adults and one infant who died as the result of methylmercury poisoning in Iraq during 1972 (Al-Saleem and the Clinical Committee on Mercury Poisoning 1976). It is unclear whether these respiratory effects were the result of direct effects on the respiratory system or were secondary to other effects. 

The autopsy of a man whose first symptoms of methylmercury poisoning occurred 26 years earlier revealed that the highest mercury levels (0.62-1.19 g Hg/g) were in the gyrus of the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, pallidum, and occipital pole of the brain (Takeuchi et al. 1989). Furthermore, total mercury levels (0.02-1.19 g/g) were much higher than methylmercury levels (approximately <0.01 g/g) in the brain. This finding supports the assumption by Suda et al. (1989) that ingested methylmercury is dealkylated to inorganic mercury in the brain. 

Atchison, WD Michigan State University East Lansing, Ml Neurotoxic mechanisms of methylmercury poisoning. NIEHS... 

Amin-Zaki L, Elhassani S, Majeed MA, et al. 1976. Perinatal methylmercury poisoning in Iraq. AmJ Dis Child 130 1070-1076. 

Burton GV, Meikle AW. 1980. Acute and chronic methylmercury poisoning impairs rat adrenal and testicular function. J Toxicol Environ Health 6 597-606. 

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