Acute mercury poisoning presenting as fever of unknown origin in an adult woman: A case report

被引：5

作者：

Cicek-Senturk G. ^{[1
]}

Altay F.A. ^{[1
]}

Ulu-Kilic A. ^{[2
]}

Gurbuz Y. ^{[1
]}

Tutuncu E. ^{[1
]}

Sencan I. ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Dişkapi Yildirim Beyazit, Training and Research Hospital, Ankara

[2] Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Erciyes University School of Medicine, Kayseri

来源：

Journal of Medical Case Reports | / 8卷 / 1期

关键词：

Fever of unknown origin; Lymphadenopathy; Mercury; Metal fume fever; Rash;

D O I：

10.1186/1752-1947-8-266

中图分类号：

学科分类号：

摘要：

Introduction. Mercury intoxication may present in a wide range of clinical forms from a simple disease to fatal poisoning. This article presents a case of acute mercury poisoning, a rare condition that presents challenges for diagnosis with fever of unknown origin. Case presentation. A 52-year-old Caucasian woman was admitted to the hospital with high fever, sore throat, a rash over her entire body, itching, nausea, and extensive muscle pain. She had cervical, bilateral axillary and mediastinal lymphadenopathies. We learned that her son and husband had similar symptoms. After excluding infectious pathologies, autoimmune diseases and malignancy were investigated. Multiple organs of our patient were involved and her fever persisted at the fourth week of admission. A repeat medical history elicited that her son had brought mercury home from school and put it on the hot stove, and the family had been exposed to the fumes for a long period of time. Our patient's serum and urine mercury levels were high. She was diagnosed with mercury poisoning and treated accordingly. Conclusions: Mercury vapor is a colourless and odorless substance. Therefore, patients with various unexplained symptoms and clinical conditions should be questioned about possible exposure to mercury. © 2014 Cicek-Senturk et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

引用

共 12 条

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