Conflicting reports came out yesterday on the possible causes of a thallium-poisoning case that resulted in the hospitalization of a couple from Taipei City's Neihu District.
The two patients, surnamed Chen (陳), are both in their 40s and had been sick for about two months; suffering from vomiting, digestion problems, paralysis and hair loss.
Doctors from the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou, where the patients are being treated, said tests jointly conducted by the hospital and National Tsinghua University show that the poisoning case had nothing to do with their house's tap water. It seems that water contained in a titanium alloy pot, which had been sent to the hospital for testing, may be at the root of the problem.
Huang Jin-chang (黃錦章), an attending physician at the hospital's neurology department, said water from the pot contained a high level of thallium. The source of the thallium is still unknown.
Meanwhile, separate tests conducted by Taipei City's Water Department seemed to indicate high thallium levels in samples taken from some of the tap-water sources in the house. US standards were used in the tests because Taiwan currently has no standards in place to define acceptable thallium levels for drinking water. Some water samples taken from the house show thallium levels close to or exceeding US standards, but Shih Wu-kang (史午康), director of the water-quality control section at the Water Department, said the results still need to be confirmed because the tests were conducted on minute amounts of water.
Over-exposure to thallium may cause nerve damage, emotional changes, cramps, convulsions and eventually coma which can lead to death caused by respiratory paralysis.
Huang said the couple will need to be treated for at least three months, even though the thallium levels in their blood have fallen by about 60 percent since mid-April. The complete recovery of their nerve functions could take several years, Huang said.
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