Be careful of poisoning if this thing at home breaks

Nowadays, many families with children have thermometers, and the most commonly used ones are mercury thermometers. However, if you accidentally break the thermometer, you will find that a lot of mercury will flow out and it will be very difficult to clean. Many of us know that mercury is poisonous, but not many people know how serious its harm is, what kind of impact it will have on our bodies, and how to deal with mercury if it leaks out.

1st incident: A family of three suffered from mercury poisoning after a thermometer broke

According to the report, Ms. Wang, who lives in Hankou, accidentally dropped the mercury thermometer when she was taking her daughter's temperature. The thermometer broke into pieces and some silvery-white mercury beads fell to the floor. Ms. Wang mopped the floor, but some mercury beads still got under the bed. Ms. Wang was busy taking her daughter to the hospital, so she gave up cleaning. That night, Ms. Wang, her husband, and daughter began to suffer from headaches and stomachaches, but they could not find the cause. The next day, Ms. Wang told a medical student friend about the broken mercury. Her friend reminded her that mercury would evaporate, and could the headache be related to the mercury that had not been cleaned up? Ms. Wang and her family of three went to the Wuhan Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Institute for a urine mercury test and found that the urine mercury of the three people exceeded the standard by several times, and headaches and stomachaches were early symptoms of mercury poisoning. The family of three needed mercury removal treatment.

2. Hazards: Mercury can penetrate any hole in the ground

What kind of substance is mercury? Why does it have such terrible "power"? The reporter interviewed Liu Guijun, a chemistry teacher at a middle school in our city. "When a mercury thermometer is broken, the silvery-white liquid metal, called 'mercury', will scatter on the ground like small water droplets and evaporate quickly at room temperature. Some of it condenses into clumps, which can be cleaned up with cardboard, but a small amount of it will sneak into the cracks in the floor and carpets, etc. If you sleep with the windows closed at night, it is easy to cause poisoning."

The reporter checked a lot of information and finally found that the higher the temperature, the faster the mercury evaporates.

Experts once tested that a standard mercury thermometer contains 1 gram of mercury. After all this amount of mercury evaporates, the mercury concentration in a closed room of 15 square meters and 3 meters high can reach 22.2 mg/cubic meter. For ordinary people, staying in a room with a mercury concentration of 1-3 mg/cubic meter for just two hours may cause headaches, fever, abdominal cramps, difficulty breathing, etc.

The hazards of mercury usually manifest themselves in three aspects: inhalation of mercury vapor into the lungs, invasion of mercury liquid into the blood and wounds, and accidental ingestion of food or materials containing mercury. "If mercury vapor is inhaled, you should quickly leave the scene to a place with fresh air, perform artificial respiration if necessary and seek medical attention immediately. If it comes into contact with the skin, take off contaminated clothing immediately and rinse thoroughly with running water. Those who accidentally ingest it should rinse their mouth immediately, drink milk or egg white, and seek medical attention immediately." said Professor Liu.

3. Treatment: Use adhesive tape or cotton swab to absorb the infection and seal it in a bottle as soon as possible.

How to deal with leaked mercury? Teacher Liu Guijun said that you can use a wet cotton swab or tape to absorb the mercury spilled on the ground, put it in a small bottle that can be sealed, and add a small amount of water to the bottle to prevent the mercury from evaporating. During the collection process, you need to move quickly, open the windows to maintain good ventilation, and try to wear gloves to avoid contact with mercury. Teacher Liu also reminded citizens that the collected mercury should never be poured into the sewer. If mercury seeps into groundwater, people will drink water containing heavy metals and it will be harmful to human health. For mercury that falls on the ground and cannot be completely collected, you can sprinkle some sulfur powder to reduce the toxicity of the mercury, and keep the windows ventilated for a long time.

"So far, no citizens have been sent to our hospital for treatment due to mercury poisoning. If the condition is treated promptly and cleanly, and the home is well ventilated, mercury poisoning will generally not occur." Professor Liu said that the weather is currently experiencing a significant drop in temperature, and children are very likely to catch a cold, so thermometers have become an indispensable auxiliary tool. "It is best not to use oral temperature measurement for children to avoid the danger of children biting the thermometer and breaking it. Try to use axillary temperature measurement. When choosing a thermometer, we recommend that citizens use electronic thermometers, which are safer, more accurate and convenient." Professor Liu finally reminded.