a form of mercury poisoning among people who ate fish from mercury-contaminated waters of Minamata Bay off Japan in the 1950s; characterized by severe neurological degeneration

Neurological disease caused by ingestion of methylmercury-contaminated fish, first seen at Minamata Bay in Japan

Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of 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 can also affect fetuses in the womb.