ID#: 18727
Caption:
This 1970 photograph was created during an investigation that took place in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in Otero County, dealing with a number of cases involving human and porcine, methylmercury poisoning. Inside a hog pen, this public health investigator was conducting an examination upon hogs suspected of having consumed feed that had been contaminated with methylmercury. It was determined that a hog, fed grains treated with methylmercury dicyanamide (a fungicide), was later butchered, and its meat was fed to the hog owner’s family members, who in turn began to exhibit symptoms indicative of mercury poisoning, which included “ataxia, decreased vision, and depression of consciousness, which progressed to coma over a period of 3-weeks”. Subsequent studies on urine specimens from the affected family members, the pork, and the grain seed, all showed results indicative of abnormally high levels of mercury, confirming the diagnosis of organic mercury poisoning.
High Resolution: Click here for hi-resolution image (18.35 MB)
Content Provider(s): CDC/ Dr. William Likowsky
Creation Date: 1970
Photo Credit:
Links:
Categories:
CDC Organization
Skip Navigation Links.

MeSH
Skip Navigation Links.
Copyright Restrictions: Permission is not required for public domain images, however, these images are provided by CDC and are available for personal, professional, and educational use with appropriate attribution. Redistribution must credit CDC and, where known, the individual photographer, and identify the CDC website as the free source. For additional terms see Use of Agency Materials | Other | CDC