Woman had 524x the normal level of mercury in her blood from skin cream use

Enlarge / A woman applying cream in a mirror (not the woman at the center of this health story, though). (credit: Flickr | Kylie Aquino)

A 47-year-old woman in Sacramento, California, has been left severely impaired-unable to talk or care for herself and requiring a feeding tube-after using tainted face cream that contained highly toxic methylmercury.

Her poisoning, first reported in local media in September, is now the subject of a detailed case report published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

In it, health officials describe the progression of the woman's symptoms, which began in July with weakness in her upper extremities and abnormal, painful sensations (dysesthesia). Over the next two weeks, she developed slurred speech, blurry vision, and unsteadiness while walking. She was then admitted to the hospital where her condition went downhill quickly, resulting in a state of agitated delirium.

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