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Methylmercury Poisoning in Canadian Indians — The Elusive Diagnosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Brian Wheatley ,
André Barbeau ,
Thomas W. Clarkson  and
Lowell W. Lapham
Brian Wheatley*
Affiliation:
Medical Services Branch, National Health and Welfare Canada and the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and the Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York
André Barbeau
Affiliation:
Medical Services Branch, National Health and Welfare Canada and the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and the Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York
Thomas W. Clarkson
Affiliation:
Medical Services Branch, National Health and Welfare Canada and the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and the Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York
Lowell W. Lapham
Affiliation:
Medical Services Branch, National Health and Welfare Canada and the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and the Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York
*
Medical Services Branch, Health and Welfare Canada, Room 1954, Jeanne Mance Building, Tunney's Pasture, Ottawa, K1A 0L3, Canada
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A World Health Organization Expert Committee has concluded that symptoms of methylmercury poisoning may appear at blood concentrations of 200-500 ng Hg/ml. Blood levels in this range have been found in several Indian and Inuit communities in Canada. The syndrome of severe methylmercury poisoning (Hunter-Russell syndrome) is well described. However, diagnosis of less severe cases is difficult. This paper reviews the present situation in Canada. The problems of diagnosis currently being encountered are discussed and are illustrated by the case of an individual who had one of the highest blood concentrations (551 ng Hg/ml) ever described in fish-eating populations outside of the outbreaks in Minamata and Niigata in Japan. Although mercury concentrations in brain were estimated to have been in the “symptomatic” range at least once in the two years prior to his death, neurohisiological examination was normal. Detailed examination by two teams of neurologists revealed effects that may be associated with methylmercury poisoning but a definitive diagnosis remained elusive.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , November 1979 , pp. 417 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1979

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