An 11-year-old girl was admitted with backpain, weight loss, fatigue and behavioural disturbances, starting seven weeks before admission. Physical examination showed acrodynia, tremor, cachexia, hypertension and extensive gingival ulceration. Routine laboratory tests were normal, except for a CRP of
OBJECTIVE
This paper was given as a keynote address at the conference on The Assessment of the Effects Due to Low Doses of Inorganic Mercury following Environmental and Occupational Exposures: Human and in vitro Studies on the Specific Mechanisms of Toxicity in Gargnano, Italy, in September