Abstract
A total of 144 cases of alkyl-mercury poisoning in rural Ghana were investigated. Out of ignorance, the patients had ingested maize which was dressed with ethylmercuric chloride and intended for sowing. They all showed the usual clinical features of alkyl-mercury poisoning, and 20 persons died. This incidence demonstrates the serious health hazards involved in the agricultural use of alkyl-mercury compounds as fungicides in an unsophisticated rural community. Some recommendations for effective pesticide control are made.

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