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

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.

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.

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.