American women poisoned in Moscow(thallium)

TLTnews.net ^ | 03/07/07

[TigerLikesRooster]

American women poisoned in Moscow

03/07/2007 11:49

Two American women are being treated in a Moscow hospital for thallium poisoning, BBC reported.

Their condition is described as “fairly serious”. They were staying at a Moscow hotel and fell ill on 24 February, but the circumstances are not yet clear.

Russia’s Ekho Moskvy radio said doctors had confirmed that the women, a mother and daughter aged 42 and 26, had been poisoned with highly toxic thallium.

According to Kommersant, FSB thinks the poisoning is an attempt to cover up theft traces, the victims’ jewellery was stolen.

49-year-old Marina Kovalevskaya and her 26-year-old daughter Yana emigrated from the USSR to the U.S. in mid-1980s, and settled in Los Angeles. However, they often visited Moscow to see their relatives and friends. Their last visit to Russia began in February. They were staying in Grand Marriott hotel.

The women felt unwell after a party on February 23. Marina Kovalevskaya called American Clinic next morning at 5 a.m. and complained that she and her daughter “have strong pain and numbness in their legs”.

Then they were brought to American Medical Center by ambulance. Yet, the Center’s doctors could not make the precise diagnosis.

Thallium was initially suspected in the poisoning of former Federal Security Service agent Alexander Litvinenko, before it was realised that the toxin was polonium-210.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I can see the emergence of "Russia Curse," poisoning by exotic toxin, especially of radioactive kind.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[AdmSmith]

Thallium is not a radioactive element, but it is very toxic:


Thallium and its compounds are highly toxic and should be handled with great care. Contact with skin is dangerous and adequate ventilation should be provided when melting this metal. Thallium(I) compounds have a high aqueous solubility and are readily absorbed through the skin. Exposure to them should not exceed 0.1 mg per m² of skin in an 8-hour time-weighted average (40-hour work week). Thallium is a suspected human carcinogen.

Part of the reason for thallium's high toxicity is that, when present in aqueous solution as the univalent thallium(I) ion (Tl+), it exhibits some similarities with essential alkali metal cations, particularly potassium. It can thus enter the body via potassium uptake pathways. However other aspects of thallium's chemistry are very different from that of the alkali metals (e.g. its high affinity for sulfur ligands), and so this substitution disrupts many cellular processes (for instance thallium may attack sulphur-containing proteins such as cysteine residues and ferredoxins).

Thallium's toxicity has led to its use (now discontinued in many countries) as a rat and ant poison.

Amongst the distinctive effects of thallium poisoning are loss of hair (which led it to its initial use as a depilatory before its toxicity was properly appreciated) and damage to peripheral nerves (victims may experience a sensation of walking on hot coals). Thallium was once an effective murder weapon before its effects became understood and an antidote (prussian blue) discovered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallium

[AdmSmith]

The poisoning is an attempt to cover up theft traces, the victims' jewellery was stolen.

Why would any sane person bring expensive jewellery to Russia?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #4

Many filthy rich types live in Russia. To impress these folks, they may have to take this kind of risk.:-)

[XR7]

Something sounds fishy here.
In 1981, you didn't just leave the Soviet Union. There must have been a reason, like maybe they were allowed to go because the USSR was trying to get rid of certain religious groups. Most of those folks would not ever be willing to return, whether to see family/friends or not. Something about this story is wierd.

[PA-RIVER]

Why even go to Russia in the first place?

They are turning back to communism, no place for a sane person to be.

[RusIvan]

The women felt unwell after a party on February 23. Marina Kovalevskaya ==

Russian names. Probably emmigrants.

Recently I saw Mila Jiovovich on Moscow TV. She came in Moscow to party here. Buity girl but speaks Russian with accent:). She is of russian decent.

Many russian immigrant to America came to Moscow those days. Mila Jiovovich told that she likes it to party in Moscow. "People lot of funny then elsewhere".

[RusIvan]

They are turning back to communism, no place for a sane person to be.==

The "communism" in today Russia? You gotta be kidding:)).

[I still care]

I have seen plenty of nutty russians, most of them filty rich who have no idea of what responsibility with money entails.

[struwwelpeter]

(Thinking):"Oh-oh, zey suspect me. Time for my Tom Daschle face!"

[redgolum]

Connections? What were these two involved in?

[x]

There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium
And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

[JadeEmperor]

We do not know the entire story apparently, they must have been involved in something to warrant such a brazen attempt on their lifes, unless the whole thing was somehow the result of criminal negligence (there's plenty of it in Russia, don't forget).