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extreme cases: insanity, paralysis, coma; can also affect fetuses; see Mercury poisoning for more details
Usual onset Soon after consuming affected seafood
Duration Chronic
Causes Severe mercury poisoning
Risk factors Affected those who consumed fish and shellfish from Minamata Bay
Diagnostic method See mercury poisoning
Differential diagnosis See mercury poisoning
Prevention Proper handling of industrial waste
Treatment See mercury poisoning
Medication See mercury poisoning
Prognosis 35% case fatality rate; for more details see mercury poisoning
Minamata disease (Japanese: 水俣病, Hepburn: Minamata-byō) is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma, and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease affects fetuses, causing microcephaly, extensive cerebral damage, and symptoms similar to those seen in cerebral palsy.
Minamata disease was first discovered in the city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from a chemical factory owned by the Chisso Corporation, which continued from 1932 to 1968. It has also been suggested that some of the mercury sulfate in the wastewater was also metabolized to methylmercury by bacteria in the sediment.[1] This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated and biomagnified in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which, when eaten by the local population, resulted in mercury poisoning. The poisoning and resulting deaths of both humans and animals continued for 36 years, while Chisso and the Kumamoto prefectural government did little to prevent the epidemic. The animal effects were severe enough in cats that they came to be named as having "dancing cat fever."[2]
