Prenatal mercury exposure and postnatal outcome: clinical case report and analysis

Abstract

Introduction. It is well known that vapor emitted from metallic mercury is a potent neurotoxic agent, but little toxicological information on liquid metallic mercury itself is available, especially with respect to developmental neurotoxicity. We were unable to find any cases of parental metallic mercury administration that reveal its effect on embryogenesis and human development. Case report. Young woman who, following a suicide attempt through the intravenous injection of liquid mercury, developed extremely high blood and urine mercury levels but was able to become pregnant and deliver an apparently mature and healthy infant. Analysis. To our knowledge, there were no similar cases reported in the literature. Therefore, we chose to perform a detailed analysis of this unique clinical case. We report levels of mercury in maternal, umbilical cord, and infant blood in samples of breast milk and placental tissues. Despite high levels of mercury in blood and urine samples, no immediate adverse heath effects were observed in either mother or infant. This case may shed a new light and information on the toxicology of mercury.