Missouri girl hospitalized after rare mercury spill

WENTZVILLE, Mo. (AP) – An eastern Missouri girl is hospitalized and three households have been evacuated after a rare mercury spill.

Jen Niswonger of Wentzville first took her four children to the doctor this summer when they all broke out in rashes. Her 11-year-old daughter didn’t get better.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that it wasn’t until Oct. 29 that medical tests determined the child suffered from mercury poisoning.

Niswonger’s household and two others in Wentzville were evacuated after the Environmental Protection Agency found high levels of mercury.

Officials say the initial poisoning happened when children were playing with a vial of liquid elemental mercury and it spilled.

The EPA says such incidents are rare.