title: Mercury toxicity: a family case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Environmental pollution exposes humans to toxic substances. Herein we present 5 family members aged20-54 years that were poisoned by liquid mercury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case 1 presented to our clinic with cough, fever, and night sweats. The patient had neutropenia, anemia,and pneumonia, rapidly developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and died on day 4 of hospitalization.Her WBC count was 0.4 × 10³ mm-3 (normal range: 4.3-10.3 × 103 mm-3) and Hb was 10.8 g dL-1 (normal range: 11.5-16.0 g dL-1). Case 2 presented with bicytopenia; the leukocyte count was 1.3 × 103 mm-3 (normal range: 4.3-10.3 × 103mm-3) and the PLT count was 88 × 103 mm-3 (normal range: 150-400 × 103 mm-3). Cases 2 and 3 had toxic peripheralneuropathy. The PLT count in case 3 was 123 × 103 mm-3 (normal range: 150-400 × 103 mm-3). Cases 4 and 5 presentedwith fatigue and headache; these 2 patients did not have positive findings, apart from high levels of mercury in theblood. We have written informed consent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We think that heavy metal exposure-although rare-should be considered in patients that present withnumerous symptoms involving multiple systems, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological systems.The present report is unique in that in describes mercury poisoning in 5 members of the same family.
authors.affiliation: Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Rahşan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yıldırım
authors.affiliation: Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fuat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Erdem
authors.affiliation: Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gündoğdu
authors.affiliation: Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yusuf
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bilen
authors.affiliation: Erzurum Region Education and Research Hospital, Department of Hematology, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ebru
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koca
authors.affiliation: Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yalçın
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yıllıkoğlu
authors.affiliation: Atatürk University, School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yaşar Nuri
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Sahin
keywords: Family; Mercury intoxication
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