If your child accidentally bites or breaks a mercury thermometer, do you know what to do?
The first and fourth-year-old children bit the mercury thermometer, and the mother's handling method won the praise of the doctor
Some time ago, my neighbor's four-year-old boy Xiao Fan (pseudonym) looked tired and sat weakly on the sofa. Xiaofan's mother noticed that his forehead was slightly hot, so she took out a mercury thermometer and prepared to measure his temperature.
After the measurement, the thermometer showed 37.5°C, slightly hot. Xiaofan's mother got up and went to another room to look for cold medicine. However, when she returned, she found that the mischievous Xiaofan had bitten the thermometer, and the thermometer that had been broken into two pieces was still in his mouth, and the mercury in the thermometer was gone.
Faced with this situation, Xiaofan's mother showed calmness and decisiveness in panic. She immediately opened a bottle of mineral water, poured out a part, and then let Xiao Fan spit out the mercury in his mouth. She carefully examined Xiaofan's mouth with a flashlight and found that there was still a little mercury. Fortunately, Xiaofan's mouth was not cut.
After cleaning her mouth, she took Xiao Fan to wash her mouth, and at the same time asked Xiao Fan's father to go to the kitchen to beat two egg whites, and then let Xiao Fan drink it. In the process, she also kept instructing the elderly in the family to open the windows for ventilation, and at the same time used a medical cotton swab to quickly collect the mercury beads that fell on the ground.
After collecting the mercury into the mineral water bottle, Xiao Fan's mother changed into a set of clean clothes and took Xiao Fan to the hospital immediately. X-rays at the hospital showed a small amount of mercury in Xiaofan's gastrointestinal tract, but he did not have a toxic reaction.
The doctor praised Xiaofan's mother's two decisive treatments, and suggested that after returning home, Xiaofan should drink more milk or egg whites, and eat more crude fiber foods, such as leeks, so as to expel mercury from the body as soon as possible.
Second, after the mercury thermometer is broken, its destructive power cannot be ignored
After Xiaofan's father checked the relevant information, he found that once the mercury thermometer was broken, its destructive power was so amazing.
According to research, if a mercury thermometer is broken in a bedroom, all the mercury in it evaporates into the air, and the concentration of mercury in the air will exceed the national standard. And if two mercury thermometers were broken in a room, the concentration of mercury in the air would be even 1,000 times higher than in the outdoor air.
It is important to know that a household mercury thermometer contains about 0.5g of mercury. If the 0.5g of mercury volatilizes in the air, it is likely to enter the human body through the respiratory tract, and mild cases will cause symptoms such as dizziness, cough, nasal mucosal damage, etc., and in severe cases, even chest tightness, shortness of breath, trembling hands and feet, so that life is in danger.
3. How should a child properly deal with a mercury thermometer after biting it?
First of all, if you notice that your child has bitten through the mercury thermometer, you should immediately check your child's mouth and guide him to spit out the mercury in his mouth into a sealed bottle of water to reduce the evaporation of mercury. Then, stimulate your child's throat to make him spit it out. If your child cannot vomit mercury, let him drink milk or egg whites, which can slow down the absorption of mercury in the body and protect the stomach mucosa.
Secondly, from a disposal point of view, when a child breaks the mercury thermometer, the first thing to do is to quickly open the window for ventilation and turn off the indoor heating to minimize further evaporation of mercury. Next, put on a mask and gloves and use a small shovel or cardboard, duct tape or cotton swab to collect the mercury and glass shards scattered on the ground. Remember not to clean with a mop or broom to avoid increasing the area where mercury spreads.
In general, when a child breaks or bites a mercury thermometer, as a parent, you should not panic and take the correct way to carry out emergency first aid to reduce the harm of mercury to the human body.