Mercury poisoning associated with a Mexican beauty cream

Objectives To describe demographic characteristics, patterns of use, and sy mptoms associated with mercury poisoning among persons who used a Mexican b eauty cream containing mercurous chloride and to estimate the prevalence of cream use in Texas near the Mexico border. Design Case series and cross-sectional survey. Setting Border communities of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Participants Persons who used the cream and contacted a health department i n response to announcements about the cream and households that participate d in the Survey of Health and Environmental Conditions in Texas Border Coun ties and Colonias, 1997. Main outcome measures Urine mercury concentrations, self-reported symptoms, and prevalence of cream use among households. Results Of 330 cream users who contacted their health department, 96% were women, and 95% were Hispanic. The mean urine mercury concentration was 146. 7 mu g/L (reference range: 0-20 mu g/L). In 5% of 2,194 randomly selected T exas households near the Mexico border, at least 1 person had used "Crema d e Belleza-Manning" (Laboratorios Vida Natural, SA., Tampico, Tamaulipas, Me xico) in the previous year. Conclusions Most cream users had increased urine mercury concentrations. Cr eam use was common in Texas near the Mexico border. Physicians should consi der toxicity in patients with neurologic symptoms of unclear cause and use public health departments when investigating unusual illnesses.