Jimu News reporter Xie Mao
On February 22, some netizens asked for help, saying that his 1-year-old cousin niece was "thallium poisoning" and urgently needed Prussian blue treatment, which caused widespread concern. On February 24, the family said that the girl had found the corresponding medicines and was being treated in the hospital, and the police had opened an investigation. Some medical experts told Jimu News reporter that thallium is a rare heavy metal, usually only available in laboratories, it is difficult for the average person to access, and after curing, it may leave sequelae, and may even cause cancer.
"Where can I buy medicinal Prussian blue, please, my cousin niece is poisoned with thallium, urgently need this medicine, please." At about 6 p.m. on February 22, a netizen in Fuzhou posted a message for help, hoping that some netizens could provide channels to buy Prussian blue, and many netizens began to help find it. The "test data results" released by the netizen showed that the patient was a 1-year-old girl who underwent urine and blood tests, "urine thallium 12800 μg/L, blood thallium 1857 μg/L". 3 hours later, the netizen again posted a message saying that the drug had been found.
On the evening of February 22, the netizen said that he was not clear about the cause of thallium poisoning and had reported the case to the public security organs. On the morning of the 24th, the Jimu news reporter noticed that the blogger had deleted all the posts related to this, and left a message saying: "The police have filed a case for investigation."
According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, a 1-year-old girl was admitted to The Fuzhou Children's Hospital in Fujian Province, who was treated in the Intensive Care Unit for Children, and the girl's condition "did not particularly deteriorate" and was contacted to the hospital with relevant drugs. On the morning of the 24th, jimu news reporters called the hospital to learn about the treatment of the girl, but the hospital did not respond positively to the matter.
Xu Tao, director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine of Wuhan Fourth Hospital, said in an interview with Jimu News that thallium is a colorless and odorless heavy metal, and its compounds belong to the highly toxic category. The clinical diagnosis is usually to collect the urine of the poisoned patient for 24 hours, and the thallium content is determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy, the urine thallium concentration exceeds 300 μg/L, and the blood thallium exceeds 40 μg/L to confirm thallium poisoning. The girl's test result was "urine thallium 12800 μg/L, blood thallium 1857 μg/L", which is already a particularly large dose.
Director Xu introduced that the Prussian blue purchased by the family is a non-toxic pigment, the treatment of thallium poisoning has a certain effect, the potassium in the Prussian blue can replace the thallium in the human body, forming an insoluble substance with the feces excreted, this treatment method is more suitable for the early stage of diagnosis. If the patient's condition is serious, blood perfusion, plasma exchange and other methods can be used, safe and effective, 1-year-old infants can also use, grasp the dose. In addition, after the cure of thallium poisoning, there may be sequelae, such as neurological damage, vision loss, etc., thallium is carcinogenic and may cause cancer.
Director Xu said that thallium is rare in life, unless it lives near mines containing thallium, and it accumulates in the human body through contact with dust and drinking water, resulting in poisoning, and usually only laboratories that do specific research in cities are available, which is difficult for ordinary people to access.
According to the official website of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2008, the Occupational Health Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a "Reserve List of Common Detoxification Drugs for Chemical Poisoning", which included Prussian blue. According to the introductory article, a reserve of detoxification drugs has been established in Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, and this batch of antidotes is limited to sudden poisoning incidents.