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Father says son poisoned by mercury

2014-04-01 13:18 Shanghai Daily Web Editor: Si Huan
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A father believes that his 5-year-old son has been deliberately poisoned after extremely high levels of mercury were detected in his body.

Tests found levels of the toxic metal in the child's blood were 200 times the standard level, while in his urine more than 10,000 times normal levels were recorded, people.com.cn reported.

The father, surnamed Yu, from Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan Province, has alerted police.

Officers said Monday that an investigation has begun.

The child is reported to be in a critical condition in a Beijing hospital and is due to undergo surgery Tuesday.

Yu said his son was very ill and ran a fever for a week early this year.

Lumps appeared on the child's buttocks, which his father took to be signs of infection. However, when squeezed, the lumps were found to contain a silvery substance, the report said.

Yu took the boy to the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University on February 5. An x-ray showed a large quantity of mercury in the child's body.

A nurse told Yu that the quantity of mercury in the boy's buttocks was equal to that found in up to 100 thermometers.

Yu then took his son to Guangzhou, in southern province Guangdong, and Beijing for treatment.

The boy's weight had dropped from 18 to 15 kilograms by the middle of last month when they went to the People's Liberation Army No. 307 Hospital in Beijing, said the report.

Yu said his son told him that children in his class had fed him the substance.

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