Karen Wetterhahn

Karen Wetterhahn (1949 - June 8 1997) was a well-known professor of dimethylmercury, she spilled a drop or two on her latex glove. Five months later, she noticed some neurologic symptoms such as loss of balance and slurred speech. She was admitted to the hospital, where it was discovered that the single exposure to dimethylmercury had raised her blood mercury level to 4,000 micrograms per liter, or 20 times the toxic threshold. Toxic blood level is reported to be > 200 μg/L, normal range is 1-8 μg/L.^[1] Despite aggressive chelation therapy, her condition rapidly deteriorated and three weeks after first symptoms appeared she fell into a coma and died a few months later, less than a year after her initial exposure.