Intoxication due to alkylmercury-treated seed--1971-72 outbreak in Iraq: clinical aspects.
Bull World Health Organ
; 53 Suppl: 65-81, 1976.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-1086168
ABSTRACT
Sixty-six hospitalized patients suffering from chronic methylmercury poisoning were examined in Baghdad during 1972. The poisoning was attributed to consumption of home-made bread prepared from seed wheat treated with mercurial fungicide. The age incidence ranged between 4 and 70 years.Of the various clinical features encountered, neurological symptoms and signs were predominant and included muscular weakness, numbness, unsteady gait, paraesthesia, dysarthria, mental disturbances and, in severe cases, blindness, partial deafness, stupor, coma, and death. Involvement of the cardiovascular, urinary, gastrointestinal and haemopoietic systems, which was commonly encountered in ethylmercury poisoning in the 1960 outbreak in Iraq, was unusual.The severity of symptoms and signs was, broadly speaking, dose-dependent; high exposure led to severe clinical manifestations, but variations existed. Criteria, based on the clinical manifestations, were set for grading the severity of cases. The series included 2 asymptomatic cases, 20 mild, 20 moderate, 14 severe, and 10 very severe. In the latter group 5 patients died from failure of the central nervous system.The severely poisoned patients died irrespective of the medical treatment received. After 2 years of observation, most patients graded as mild or moderate cases lost their symptoms completely. Severe cases improved slowly, although ataxia, diminution of visual field and acuity and paraesthesia were still present. Thus, the previously accepted view that neurological signs were irreversible has been disproved.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
2_ODS3
/
7_ODS3_muertes_prevenibles_nacidos_ninos
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Compostos de Alquilmercúrio
/
Intoxicação por Mercúrio
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Bull World Health Organ
Ano de publicação:
1976
Tipo de documento:
Article