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Previous Volume 338:1672-1676 June 4, 1998 Number 23 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF Editorial by Kulig, K. Letters Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

Ingestion of fish or grain contaminated with methylmercury resulted in epidemics of severe neurotoxicity and death in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s¹ and in Iraq in 1972.² The World Health Organization and other organizations have warned of the dangers of methylmercury compounds to the environment and to scientific researchers.^1,3,4,5,6 Dimethylmercury may be even more dangerous than methylmercury compounds. The physical properties of dimethylmercury permit transdermal absorption, and the volatility of this liquid permits toxic exposure through inhalation. Since dimethylmercury is lethal at a dose of approximately 400 mg of mercury (equivalent to a few drops, or about 5 mg . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Case Report

Methods

Discussion

Source Information

From the Section of Clinical Pharmacology, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology/Toxicology (D.W.N.), the Section of Neurology, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics (R.E.N., M.B.C.), and the Department of Pathology (R.W.S.), Dartmouth Medical School; and the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Dartmouth College (M.B.B.) — both in Hanover, N.H.; the Neurology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (F.H.); and the Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, N.Y. (T.Y.T., E.C., T.C.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Nierenberg at the Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, Hinman Box 7506, Lebanon, NH 03756.

References

Related Letters:

Death after Exposure to Dimethylmercury
Byard R. W., Couper R., Lockwood A. H., Landrigan P. J., Hanlon D. P., Nierenberg D. W., Blayney M. B., Clarkson T. W.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1998; 339:1243-1244, Oct 22, 1998. Correspondence

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