A 1-year-old girl was poisoned by a rare and severe poison. Be careful! 1g can be fatal, and there is no specific medicine...

Thallium is a rare heavy metal

Usually in professional laboratories

Only then can you get in touch

But recently

A 1-year-old girl from Fuzhou, Fujian Province

However, he was poisoned and sent to the hospital for emergency treatment...

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1-year-old girl in Fuzhou suffers from thallium poisoning

The police have opened a case for investigation

"Where can I buy the medicinal Prussian blue? Please, everyone. My cousin's niece has thallium poisoning and she needs this medicine urgently. Please, everyone."

At around 6 p.m. on February 22, a netizen from Fuzhou posted a request for help on Weibo, hoping that someone could provide a channel to purchase Prussian blue. All of a sudden, many enthusiastic netizens began to help find it.

The "test data results" posted by the netizen showed that the patient was a 1-year-old girl. After urine and blood tests, "urine thallium concentration reached 12800μg/l, and blood thallium concentration was 1857μg/l." Three hours later, the netizen posted another message saying that the drug had been found.

On the evening of February 22, the netizen said that he did not know the cause of the thallium poisoning and had reported the case to the public security authorities. On the morning of the 24th, the netizen deleted all posts related to the case and left a message saying: "The police have opened a case for investigation."

Police and hospital respond

On the evening of the 24th, the reporter called the Fuzhou Children's Hospital in Fujian Province. According to the description, the hospital did admit a baby with thallium poisoning and is currently receiving active treatment. Because the situation of this incident is relatively complicated, it is not convenient to disclose more information for the time being.

In addition, the reporter learned from the Gushan Police Station of the Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau that police officers have already intervened in the investigation.

Thallium is rare in life

The source of this is unknown

In this incident

Many netizens have raised questions about the source of "thallium"

“Where does thallium come from?”

"Is thallium so easy to get? The poisoning is incredible."

Xu Tao, Director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Wuhan Fourth Hospital

Thallium is rare in life, unless you live near a mine containing thallium. It accumulates in the human body through contact with dust and drinking water, leading to poisoning. In cities, it is usually only available in laboratories doing specific research, and it is difficult for ordinary people to come into contact with it.

Thallium: 1g can cause death

No specific medicine

Thallium is a slow-acting, highly toxic substance.

Symptoms are insidious

The lethal dose is around 1g

Thallium is colorless and tasteless when dissolved in water, and is not easily detected after drinking. It is highly toxic to the human body. Generally, symptoms will occur 10 to 12 hours after poisoning. Initially, gastrointestinal irritation will be felt, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, etc., followed by tingling in the lower limbs, decreased vision, hair loss, etc. In severe cases, it will damage the central nervous system, gastrointestinal and kidney systems. If it is not diagnosed in time, thallium can cause irreversible nervous system damage to patients, and severe cases can cause disability or even death.

Clinical diagnosis usually involves collecting 24-hour urine from poisoned patients and quantitatively determining the thallium content using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Thallium poisoning can be confirmed when the urine thallium concentration exceeds 300μg/L and the blood thallium exceeds 40μg/L.

The girl's test results

"Urine thallium 12800μg/L, blood thallium 1857μg/L"

It's already a very large dose.

The most frightening thing is that there is no specific medicine for thallium poisoning. The better detoxification methods are blood perfusion, plasma replacement and other methods. The "Prussian blue" that the blogger is looking for is a non-toxic pigment. Thallium can replace the potassium on Prussian blue to form an insoluble substance that is excreted with feces. It has a certain effect on the treatment of acute and chronic oral thallium poisoning.

also

Thallium poisoning may have sequelae after recovery

Such as neurological damage, vision loss, etc.

Thallium is carcinogenic

May cause cancer

The official website of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in 2008, the Occupational Health Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a "Reserve List of Common Antidotes for Chemical Poisoning", which included Prussian blue. The introduction article said that antidote reserve warehouses were established in Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, and this batch of antidotes is only for use in sudden poisoning incidents.

The girl's condition is worrying

I hope the police can find out the truth as soon as possible.

May the child recover soon.

Source: Science Popularization China WeChat Official Account