Dear Scott Edmunds,

I refer to your email enquiry dated 23 Jan 2018 requesting for information
on mercury poisoning cases in Hong Kong in the last decade.  Please find
our reply and the requested information as follows.

From 1 Jan 2008 to 31 Dec 2017, the Department of Health recorded a total
of 31 mercury poisoning cases involving 30 females and 1 male with age
ranged from 22-58 years.  Their sources of mercury exposure and districts
where the patients had attended for treatment are listed in the following
tables:

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| District where the patient had attended treatment* | Number of cases |
|----------------------------------------------------+-----------------|
| HK Island | 9 |
|----------------------------------------------------+-----------------|
| Kowloon | 10 |
|----------------------------------------------------+-----------------|
| New Territories | 12 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

*District of hospital/clinic where the patient had attended for treatment
is according to District Council demarcation

+----------------------------------------------+
| Source of mercury exposure | Number of cases |
|----------------------------+-----------------|
| Cosmetic cream product | 25 |
|----------------------------+-----------------|
| Powder of topical use | 1 |
|----------------------------+-----------------|
| Undetermined | 5 |
+----------------------------------------------+

Remarks: Please note that the Department of Health receives voluntary
notification from doctors on poisoning cases with public health
significance and the above statistics are based on notifications received

************************************************************
Non-Communicable Disease Division
Surveillance and Epidemiology Branch
Centre for Health Protection
Department of Health

From: Scott Edmunds <[FOI #247 email]>
To: FOI requests at Department of Health <[Department of Health request email]>
Date: 23/01/2018 16:25
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Mercury poising cases in Hong
Kong

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Dear Department of Health,
I would like to get hold of all the data you have on mercury poising cases
you have for the last decade. Hopefully the  Hong Kong Poison Information
Centre and some of you other departments will have this. I don't want
anything identifiable, but numbers of cases, and any other information on
the source of poisoning, rough location of patient (I'm particularly
interested in cases in the New Territories, so even district/treating
hospital level information would be useful at this stage). If you don't
have this data to hand then letting me know which depart does keep this
data, as well as any leads on relevant publications and reports would also
be gratefully appreciated.
Yours faithfully,
Scott Edmunds, PhD
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