Being alive after a severe inorganic mercury intoxication.

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 microg/L (normal, 0.6 to 59 microg/L) and 91 microg/L (normal, 0.1 to 20 microg/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.