Qiqi’s mother caught a cold. After taking her temperature, she put the thermometer on the coffee table and took a nap by herself. When she woke up, she found Qiqi was playing with small beads beside the coffee table. The small beads are silver. When Qiqi pinches it with a small hand, the beads become two. He put the small beads together again and put them in the palm of his hand, and it became a bigger one. He curiously put the beads into his mouth, "Huh, it doesn't smell?" At this moment, Qiqi suddenly heard her mother call his name and swallowed the beads by accident. Qiqi's mother panicked: it turned out that the thermometer was broken, and Qiqi swallowed mercury! Mercury, this is poisonous! The whole family was shocked and hurried to the hospital.
mother said with red eyes, "Doctor, I heard that people will be poisoned to death if they eat mercury. I don't know how much Qiqi eats, please help him!" I looked confused, obviously already. The scared little boy said to him kindly: "My child, is there anything wrong with you?" Qiqi shook his head. I raised my head and said to Qiqi’s mother: "The digestive tract of hardly absorbs mercury. If a child accidentally swallows the mercury in the thermometer, it will generally not cause poisoning! Z4z, you see, the child is not uncomfortable now, so first Don't worry, listen to me slowly."
Mercury moves in the stomach and intestines
Mercury is metal mercury, so why do we call it mercury? It's because it can flow like water, and its color is like silver. This is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature. The absorption rate of mercury into the gastrointestinal tract is only one ten thousandth, so basically it can be regarded as that is not absorbed. We have treated patients who mistakenly swallowed mercury and observed the path of mercury in the human body by taking X-rays in a standing position: On the first day of oral mercury, the X-rays could clearly see that the mercury that was drunk was scattered in the stomach. in. I took another photo the next day and found that mercury had entered the small intestine. On the third day, you will find the colon. From the fourth day onwards, traces of mercury can be found in the toilet... Collect the patient’s stool for more than a week, wash it repeatedly with water and then recover the mercury. You will be surprised to find that the amount of mercury collected is the total amount the patient drank. almost. Qiqi’s mother said excitedly: "I understand! What you mean is that my child will not be poisoned at all, and does not require treatment. Let it go down the gastrointestinal tract naturally, and finally pull it out! But I I’m still a little worried and don’t want to keep poisonous things in my child for a long time. Can you think of a way to get the mercury out faster?"
There are several possibilities of mercury poisoning
. This worry is not unreasonable. Under normal circumstances, patients with intact gastrointestinal tract, accidentally taking mercury is relatively safe . There have been patients who took 500 milliliters of mercury by mouth, and there was no mercury poisoning . However, patients with damage to the gastrointestinal tract itself will have a certain risk of poisoning if they swallow mercury by mistake. Due to the high density of metallic mercury, gastric lavage is more difficult to wash out, and gastric lavage, like emesis, can easily cause gastrointestinal mucosal damage. Therefore, mercury entering the blood through the damaged mucosa can cause poisoning. Therefore, the initial stage mainly depends on the gastrointestinal peristalsis to discharge by itself. When mercury is discharged from the stomach, start taking crude fiber foods such as leeks and celery to promote the discharge of mercury. After metallic mercury enters the intestinal cavity, the patient's position should be adjusted according to the accumulation site and the physiological trend of the intestinal tract, so that the mercury can be fully discharged from the intestinal tract as soon as possible.
Special attention should be paid to that mercury will vaporize after heating. Inhaling high-concentration mercury vapor in a short period of time can easily cause systemic poisoning , which is mainly manifested by systemic symptoms such as fever, dizziness, headache, tremor, and oral cavity. -Z1z gingivitis , gastroenteritis or acute bronchitis and other local manifestations. Heavier ones will appear between Qualitative pneumonia or obvious proteinuria, especially severe acute renal failure, acute toxic encephalopathy. Chronic mercury poisoning is more common in long-term exposure to mercury vapor at work, and life poisoning is more common in long-term use of mercury-exceeding cosmetics, external or internal mercury-containing drugs or health care products, mainly manifested as neurasthenia syndrome, oral-gingivitis, eyelids, tongue Or finger tremor. In severe cases, there may be changes in mental character, gross tremor or obvious kidney damage, and toxic encephalopathy may also occur.
smashes the thermometer. This should be done with
. For this case, the focus should be to clean the mercury in the home in time to avoid continuous inhalation. "Then what to do with the broken thermometer?" Mom asked just then. Once the thermometer is broken, everyone and animals should be evacuated first, and windows should be opened for ventilation to speed up the evaporation of mercury in the air. In the next 1 to 2 weeks, try to keep indoor ventilation as much as possible. You can also ignite alcohol and iodine to remove mercury vapor in the air. You can also use 10% bleach liquid to wash the ground contaminated by mercury.
Secondly, the scattered mercury will turn into mercury beads and roll quickly. If the floor of the home is relatively smooth and flat, mercury may be scattered throughout the house, so parents should check every corner of the house . If mercury is scattered on a smooth surface such as wood, floor tiles, or polished furniture, it is easier to clean. can use wet cotton swabs (medical cotton swabs), tape paper, etc. to glue the mercury spilled on the surface of the object, or use the low adhesion of mercury to smooth surfaces to spread a piece of hard paper, plastic board, etc. On the surface, use a small brush to gently sweep up the mercury, and then put it into a small bottle that can be sealed (such as a beverage bottle, etc.). After the bottle is sealed, it is handed over to a professional or related department for disposal , such as the waste of the community committee. Liquid management personnel, environmental protection departments, disease control departments, or hospitals’ medical waste treatment departments, etc. note! is not recommended to flush with water into the sewer , because it will pollute the environment. In addition, after the chemical reaction between sulfur and mercury, mercury sulfide solids will be formed, so can also be spread by sulfur powder to adsorb mercury . If mercury is scattered on carpets, curtains, sheets, clothes or other surfaces that easily adhere to mercury, cut off these contaminated items and throw them away, or dry the clothes in the contaminated room in the sun to allow the mercury to be sufficient Volatilize away. Attention, mothers, the collection process should be as fast as possible, it is best to wear a mask and gloves. Generally speaking, the mercury content in mercury clinical thermometers is very small, about 0.5 g to 1 g, and the diffusion is basically clean after two or three days after the above treatment. The last thing to remind is that after the thermometer is broken, never use a vacuum cleaner. Because mercury will be blown into the indoor air by the vacuum cleaner, which increases the probability of inhaling mercury vapor in the respiratory tract . Mothers should not use brooms to sweep, because brooms will disperse mercury. In addition, do not walk around in contaminated shoes to avoid expanding the contaminated area.
Source | Public Health
Text | Occupational Diseases Zhao Zanmei (Associate Chief Physician)
Picture | From the network
zz Editor | Publicity Center Zhang Xuanye
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-