{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,27]],"date-time":"2025-08-27T18:10:04Z","timestamp":1756318204110,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Case Rep"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,14]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Pink disease was once a widespread phenomenon, known to physicians throughout the Western world. Its prevalence declined massively once the source, mercury, was identified in several products. In modern medicine, pink disease rarely forms a differential and is known only to few physicians, despite the long-term effects of this illness. This report details a case of a man who suffered from pink disease as a child following his mother applying teething powder containing inorganic mercury to his gums for 12 weeks, from the age of 6 months. He received no treatment at the time. Throughout his lifetime, however, the man (in his 70s) has been diagnosed as infertile, and with bronchiectasis, despite a lack of convincing history to suggest an aetiology. The cause of these pathologies remains elusive, either organically occurring or components of Young\u2019s syndrome.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/bcr-2025-265108","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,26]],"date-time":"2025-04-26T09:55:18Z","timestamp":1745661318000},"page":"e265108","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mercury exposure, pink disease and Young\u2019s syndrome: a forgotten public health disaster"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-6173-0173","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Megan","family":"Brown","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Keele University, Keele, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Victoria","family":"Hendley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Brinsley Avenue Medical Practice, Stoke-on-Trent, England, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nawaid","family":"Ahmad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Telford, Shropshire, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.1","first-page":"21","article-title":"Mercury--a major agent in the history of medicine and alchemy","volume":"36","author":"Norn","year":"2008","journal-title":"Dan Medicinhist Arbog"},{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.2","first-page":"201","article-title":"Pink ladies: mercury poisoning in twin girls","volume":"168","author":"Weinstein","year":"2003","journal-title":"CMAJ"},{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.307.6919.1579"},{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"638","DOI":"10.1093\/pch\/6.9.638","article-title":"Recognizing Kawasaki disease","volume":"6","author":"Lang","year":"2001","journal-title":"Paediatr Child Health"},{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.5","unstructured":"Shekhawat R , Meshram V . 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Mercury. In: Dart RC , ed. Medical toxicology. 3rd edn. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2004: 1437\u201348."},{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2494","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms22052494","article-title":"Mercury Chloride but Not Lead Acetate Causes Apoptotic Cell Death in Human Lung Fibroblast MRC5 Cells via Regulation of Cell Cycle Progression","volume":"22","author":"Kim","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int J Mol Sci"},{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"351","DOI":"10.2131\/jts.4.351","article-title":"Effects of methylmercury chloride on various cholinergic parameters in vitro","volume":"4","author":"Kobayashi","year":"1979","journal-title":"J Toxicol Sci"},{"key":"2025082710515497000_18.4.e265108.15","unstructured":"Posin SL , Sharma S . Mercury toxicity. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing, 2020. 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