Using a mercury-tainted skin-lightening cream obtained in Mexico left a California woman unable to speak or care for herself, according to a CDC report.

The 47-year-old Mexican American woman sought outpatient medical care last July after developing dysesthesias and upper extremity weakness. She was hospitalized 2 weeks later with slurred speech, blurry vision, and an unsteady gait. In the hospital, she developed agitated delirium. Testing 2 weeks into her hospital stay revealed extraordinarily high mercury levels of 2620 μg/L in blood samples and 110 μg/L in urine. Upper limits of mercury in the US Mexican American population from 2015 to 2016 were 1.81 μg/L in blood and 0.90 μg/L in urine. At the California Poison Control System’s recommendation, chelation therapy was initiated.

Family members told investigators that the woman used skin-lightening creams purchased in Mexico on her face twice a day for 7 years. Testing showed the cream contained 12 000 ppm of mercury. Previously, health risks have been associated with skin creams contaminated with inorganic mercury at far higher levels of up to 200 000 ppm. But further testing of the woman’s cream detected methyl mercury iodide, an organic mercury compound far more toxic than inorganic mercury, the authors wrote. This case is the first known incident of skin-lightening cream contaminated with methyl mercury, according to the report.

根据疾病预防控制中心的一份报告，使用在墨西哥获得的汞污染的美白霜使一名加利福尼亚妇女无法说话或照顾自己。

这位47岁的墨西哥裔美国妇女在出现了感觉异常和上肢无力之后，于去年7月寻求门诊治疗。2周后，她因口齿不清，视力模糊和步态不稳而住院。在医院里，她出现了躁动不安。在她住院两周后进行的测试显示，血样中的汞含量非常高，为2620μg/ L，尿液中的汞含量为110μg/ L。从2015年到2016年，美国墨西哥裔美国人的汞含量上限为血液中1.81μg/ L和尿中0.90μg/ L。根据加州毒物控制系统的建议，开始了螯合疗法。

家属告诉调查人员，这名妇女每天两次在墨西哥脸上使用在墨西哥购买的亮肤霜，历时7年。测试表明该乳膏中含有12000 ppm的汞。以前，健康风险与被无机汞污染的护肤霜相关，其含量高达200,000 ppm。作者写道，但是对该妇女的乳膏进行进一步测试后发现甲基碘化碘，一种有机汞化合物，其毒性比无机汞高得多。该报告称，这是一起被甲基汞污染的美白霜的首次已知事件。