1. Another umbrella murder? - A rare case of Minamata disease
- Author
-
Hans-Jürgen Raatschen, Anne Albers, Michael Klintschar, and Ursula Gies
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Wallerian degeneration ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Necrosis ,Minamata disease ,Umbrella murder ,Autopsy ,Case Report ,Status epilepticus ,Kidney ,Pathology and Forensic Medicine ,Injections ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Atrophy ,Medicine ,Humans ,030216 legal & forensic medicine ,Mercury Poisoning, Nervous System ,Neuropathological alterations ,business.industry ,Brain ,Methylmercury ,General Medicine ,Mercury ,Methylmercury Compounds ,medicine.disease ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,nervous system ,Liver ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Occipital lobe ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
We report a rare case of fatal intoxication in a 40-year-old man caused by injection of a fluid containing organic mercury, allegedly in an attack with a syringe fixed to the tip of an umbrella. The man suffered from severe neurological symptoms and progressive multiorgan failure and died 10 months later in refractory status epilepticus. Autopsy revealed severe brain atrophy and non-specific kidney damage. Neuropathological examination showed neuronal loss especially in the occipital lobe, distinct granule cell necrosis in the cerebellum and Wallerian degeneration in the brainstem. Postmortem toxicological analysis revealed extremely increased levels of mercury in liver and kidney tissue as well as methylmercury levels in peripheral blood.
- Published
- 2020