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Being alive after a severe inorganic mercury intoxication

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Abstract

Inorganic mercury intoxication should be considered a potentially life-threatening condition that leads to widespread progressive gastrointestinal, renal, hepatic, hematologic, neuropsychiatric, and dermatologic system hazards. We report here a 10-year-old girl with severe inorganic mercury intoxication whose blood and urine mercury levels were 5,380 μg/L (normal, 0.6 to 59 μg/L) and 91 μg/L (normal, 0.1 to 20 μg/L), respectively, to reveal that life can be saved and complete recovery can be achieved even if the clinical situation is very severe. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a mercury intoxication being alive with such a high blood mercury level in children in English pediatric literature.

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Acknowledgement

We, as the authors, state that there is no conflict of interest and that the work is not a part of any commercial organization.

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Correspondence to Nilgun Erkek.

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Erkek, N., Senel, S., Sarac, A. et al. Being alive after a severe inorganic mercury intoxication. Eur J Pediatr 169, 625–628 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-009-1073-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-009-1073-2

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