Articles

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Minamata-Table-01

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Table 1

Members of Medical Study Group of Minamata Disease in Kumamoto University

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Internal Medicine (Drs. Katuki and Tokuomi)
Pediatrics (Drs. Nagano, Kida and Harada)
Otorhinolaryngology (Dr. Nosaka)
Opthalmology (Dr. Okamura)
Psycho-Neurology (Drs. Miyagawa and Tatetsu)

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Anatomy (Dr. Kutuna)
Pathology (Dr. Takeuchi)
Hygiene (Dr. Irukayama)
Public Health (Drs. Kitamura and Nomura)
Pharmacology (Drs. Uchida and Tanaka)

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Table 2

Progress of the study of Minamata disease

1956	Apr. 21	5-year-old girl who complained various cerebral signs visited Dr. Noda.
	May 28	Anti-Minamata Disease Committee in Minamata City
	Aug 24	Medical Study Group in Kumamoto University was organized.
		Epidemiological and clinical study Post-mortem examination - 2 cases (adult cases)
	Nov. 14	Preliminary report: It may be intoxicative disease being caused by intake of fish and shellfish caught in Minamata Bay.
1957		Experimental study (given fish and shellfish to animal)
		Study of extraction of causative agent from the fish and shellfish
1957	Sep. 26	Post-mortem examination - 10 cases (post-natal cases)
		Experimental study of methyl-mercuric compound
		Organic mercury is most doubtful as the noxious factor (Medical Study Group)
1959	Jul. 22	Official opinion of Medical Study Group: Organic mercury is causative agent.
1960-1962		Uchida isolated CH3HgSCH3 from Hormomya mutabilis
		Irukayama and Kondo isolated CH3HgCl from Hormomya mutabilis and Venus Japonica
		Irukayama isolated CH3HgCl from reaction tube of vinyl-acetate branch of Minamata Factory
		Two and half year old girl with cerebral palsy died in 1961, and post-mortem examination was performed.
		Medical Study Group accepted this case as congenital Minamata disease in 1961.

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Table 3

Differential diagnosis of Minamata disease from the similar poisonings

Changes for differential diagnosis	Minamata disease	Organic mercury poisoning	Inorganic mercury poisoning	Thallium poisoning	Manganese poisoning
Nervous system
Loss of nerve cells
Cerebellar granular cells	+++	+++	-	-	-
Area striata	+++	+++	-	-	-
Cerebral cortex	++	++	-	-	-
Cerebral nuclei	+	+	+	-	+++
Softening	±	±	±	±	±
Disintegration of peripheral nerve	±	±	++	+++	-(+)
Hemorrhage, edema	+++	+++	++	++	++
Other organs
Degeneration of liver cells	-(+)	(+)-	++	+	++
Degeneration of kidney	-(+)	(+)-	+++	++	±
Hypoplasia of bone marrow	+	+	+	-	-
Inflammation of intestine	+	+	+++	++	-
Main clinical symptoms
Ataxia	+++	+++	-(+)	+++	+
Dysarthria	+++	+++	+	±	±
Constriction of visual field	+++	+++	-	-	-
Central scotoma	-	-	-	+++	-
Intelligent disturbance	+	+	-	+	-
Pallidum syndrome	(+)	(+)	+	-(+)	+++
Polyneuritic syndrome	+	+	++	+++	-
Disturbance in liver and kidney	-(+)	-(+)	+++	++	++

 

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