US female citizens diagnosed with thallium poisoning in Moscow

Itar-Tass
March 6, 2007

MOSCOW - Doctors of Moscow’s Sklifosofsky Research Institute of Emergency Care assess the condition of US citizens Marina Kovalenskya and her daughter Yana as moderate-to-severe.

An official of Rospotrebnadzor oversight service told Itar-Tass on Tuesday that “doctors are continuing to work, and the women are undergoing necessary treatment”. “There is no new information in this case yet.”

Marina Kovalenskaya, 42, and her daughter, 26, were admitted to hospital with symptoms of acute poisoning on February 24.

Rospotrebnadzor’s official said that the clinical manifestations suggested exposure to a toxic agent. The conclusive diagnosis of thallium poisoning was made on February 26. The patients were given an antidote.

Specialists say that thallium can enter the organism through respiratory organs, the mouth and the intact skin. Elimination of it from the body takes a long time.

Acute thallium poisoning presents itself as the onset of symptoms within a day or two – nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and breathing difficulty. Hair loss, swelling of mouth mucous membranes and fissures at corners of the mouth are seen in two-three weeks.