Zhu Ling
Zhu Ling
Zhu Ling, a native of Beijing, was admitted to Tsinghua University in 1992. In 1994 and 1995, Zhu Ling was deliberately poisoned with thallium, a lethal chemical, twice. He suffered from general paralysis, brain nerve damage and other symptoms, causing lifelong injury. Zhu Ling's roommate sun has a major suspicion, and the police once locked the murderer at Zhu Ling's "side", but the case was finally settled. In August 1998, the public security organs lifted the suspicion of sun and cancelled the previous restrictions on her going abroad. Sun changed his name after the event and went to the United States.
Up to now, there is little evidence except thallium poisoning in the Zhuling case. Even if it is thallium poisoning, there are still many details not clear, Zhu Ling's specific poisoning time and poisoning method are unknown. On April 16, 2013, with the fall of the Fudan poisoning case, calls for a thorough investigation of Zhu Ling's case also re emerged. In various forum posts, nearly 100% of netizens thought that Zhu Ling's roommate was the murderer, and she was not brought to justice, so many people called for a re investigation of the case. On May 8, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau responded through the official microblog, saying that due to the loss of evidence, the case could not be detected and that there was no interference in the process, calling on the public to treat the case rationally.
Character experience
In November 1973, Zhu Ling was born into an intellectual family in Beijing. His father was Wu Chengzhi and his mother was Zhu Mingxin. She also has a sister named Wu Jin. In April 1989, Wu Jin, a student in the Biology Department of Peking University, disappeared on a spring outing. Three days later, her body was found under a cliff. The accidental death of his sister has dealt a heavy blow to Zhu Ling's family.
Zhu Ling is versatile and has studied piano and Guqin since childhood. In 1992, Zhu Ling was admitted to the Department of chemistry of Tsinghua University and became the main member of the school folk band. In addition, she is also a master swimmer. She has been ranked many times in Tsinghua university sports meeting. In 1994, he won the second prize of national college art performance solo group. In addition, she is also a level 2 swimmer in Beijing.
In December 1994, Zhu Ling began to lose her hair for no reason, and her whole body was in severe pain. On January 23, 1995, Zhu Ling completely lost her hair. After being hospitalized in Tongren Hospital for one month, the pain became more and more serious, and the hospital did not find any problems. On March 9, 1995, Zhu Ling had a strange disease for the second time. Li Shunwei, director of the Department of Neurology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, highly suspected that he had thallium poisoning, but no further tests were carried out. Zhu Ling had to be admitted to ICU (intensive care group) because of the rapid deterioration of his condition.
When death was approaching step by step, but everyone was helpless, Bei Zhicheng, Zhu Ling's middle school classmate and 92 grade student of Mechanics Department of Peking University, proposed to use the rare Internet in China at that time to ask for help from all over the world. After Zhu Ling's letter was published on the Internet, thousands of letters were received from doctors all over the world within a week, of which 30% thought Zhu Ling was poisoned by thallium. Students from Tsinghua University and Peking University translated the letters into Chinese and sent them to Zhu Ling's family and the hospital. In the early 1990s, when the significance of the Internet had not yet been revealed, the results of this classic Internet case were not taken seriously. Finally, with a tentative attitude, Professor Chen Zhenyang of Beijing Institute of occupational disease prevention and control finally diagnosed thallium poisoning (lethal dose), and then used ordinary industrial technology The pigment Prussian blue was detoxified successfully.
Although the Prussian blue, which cost only 40 yuan at that time, basically eliminated the thallium content in Zhu Ling's body, she was accompanied by serious sequelae all her life. Today, 13 years later, 34 year old Zhu Ling is a middle-aged woman with nearly blind eyes. She weighs more than 160 Jin, is paralyzed, has lost all motor functions, has mild brain atrophy, and is unable to take care of herself. She sits in a wheelchair all day long and lives a fragile life relying on her parents' little pension. Zhu Ling's parents are devoted to protecting Zhu Ling's life.
Poisoning culprit
thallium
Thallium, atomic number 81, atomic weight 204.3833, element symbol TL, is a white, heavy and soft metal, which is a high-risk radioactive heavy metal. Its toxicity is higher than that of lead and mercury, and its lethal dose is about 1g. Its main use is to make thallium sulfate, a strong rodenticide.
Poisoning incident
Case review
Since November 24, 1994, Zhu Ling began to have strange poisoning symptoms: at first, she had a stomachache and couldn't eat; then (December 5) she felt sick in her stomach; finally (December 8) her hair began to fall off and fell off in a few days. On December 23, Zhu Ling was admitted to the gastroenterology ward of Beijing Tongren Hospital. Although the cause of the disease was not found, after one month of hospitalization, Zhu Ling's condition was alleviated and his hair grew. He was discharged on January 23, 1995.
On February 20, 1995, the winter vacation ended and the new term began. Zhu Ling returned to school.
On March 6, 1995, Zhu Ling's condition deteriorated. Her leg was very painful and she felt dizzy. Zhu Ling's parents sent her to the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University for treatment.
On March 9, 1995, Zhu Ling's parents took Zhu Ling to the outpatient department of Neurology of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. After receiving the treatment, Professor Li Shunwei told Zhu Ling's mother that "it's too much like a case of thallium poisoning in Tsinghua University in the 1960s.". However, because Zhu Ling denied that he had a history of thallium exposure, and the Union Medical College Hospital did not have the conditions to do the test, the Union Medical College Hospital did not test for thallium poisoning.
On March 15, 1995, her symptoms worsened, and she began to have facial muscle paralysis, ophthalmoplegia, and spontaneous breathing disappeared. Zhu Ling was admitted to the neurology ward of Union Medical College Hospital, where she was diagnosed and treated as acute disseminated neuromyelitis.
On March 23, 1995, Zhu Ling suffered from central respiratory failure, and the Union Medical College Hospital adopted tracheotomy.
On March 24, 1995, Xiehe Hospital began to take plasma exchange therapy for Zhu Ling. Before and after 8 times, each time was more than 1000 ml. some people thought that it played an important role in maintaining Zhu Ling's life without diagnosis, but in the process, Zhu Ling was infected with hepatitis C.
On March 26, 1995, Zhu Ling was sent to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Union Medical College Hospital and maintained breathing by ventilator.
He fell into a coma on March 28, 1995, and woke up on August 31. Zhu Ling was in a coma for five months.
Xiehe Hospital carried out a number of tests on Zhu Ling (including HIV, spinal cord puncture, MRI, immune system, chemical poisoning, antinuclear antibody, nuclear antigen antibody and Lyme disease, etc.), but the test results of other items were negative except Lyme disease.
Internet for help
On April 10, 1995, Zhu Ling's senior high school classmates and grade 92 students of Mechanics Department of Peking University, such as Bei Zhicheng and CAI Quanqing, translated the unknown disease into English and sent it to Usenet through the Internet sci.med And other relevant newsgroups and bitnet. After that, 1635 letters were received from 18 countries and regions in the world (more than 2000 for one, and more than 3000 for Bei Zhicheng). About one third of the replies thought that this was a typical phenomenon of thallium poisoning. Doctors at St Jude's children's research hospital pointed out in their reply that "thallium poisoning is suspected and can be almost diagnosed based on symptoms such as hair loss, gastrointestinal problems and neurological problems.". Due to the underdevelopment of Internet in China at that time, the development of overseas UCLA was very difficult Dr.XinLi On UCLA's servers and Dr.JohnW.Aldis He once helped to establish UCLA Zhuling thallium poisoning remote diagnosis network, which played a key role in information release and coordination of Zhuling thallium poisoning remote diagnosis.
On April 18, 1995, Bei Zhicheng took the translated e-mail to the door of the intensive care unit of Peking Union Medical College Hospital for reference. However, he did not get a positive response and few people attended. He also did not adopt the judgment of thallium poisoning in the e-mail and the corresponding detection methods, so that the results of online remote diagnosis did not play a corresponding role in time.
Diagnosis and treatment
As the reply letter on the Internet suspected thallium poisoning, when Zhu Ling's parents learned that Professor Chen Zhenyang of Beijing occupational disease prevention and control institute could identify thallium poisoning, with the help of a conscientious doctor, they obtained Zhu Ling's urine, cerebrospinal fluid, blood, nails and hair and came to Beijing occupational disease prevention and Control Institute for examination on April 28, 1995. On the same day, Chen Zhenyang issued a test report, believing that Zhuling was poisoned by thallium twice. After the second poisoning, the thallium content in Zhuling's body far exceeded the lethal dose. He suspected that someone had deliberately poisoned Zhuling, and suggested taking Prussian blue for detoxification.
According to the feedback from the Internet and the test results of Chen Zhenyang on April 28, 1995, Zhu Ling began to take the symptomatic Prussian blue. On the day of taking it, the concentration of thallium in his blood began to drop. This was the 50th day Zhu Ling went to the Union Medical College Hospital for treatment. One month later (10 days later), the thallium in his body was discharged. However, due to the long retention time of thallium ion in the body, Zhu Ling's nervous system was seriously damaged, his vision almost completely lost, and his body function was seriously damaged, and he was still in a coma.
On August 31, 1995, Zhu Ling recovered from a five month coma. In November 1995, Zhu Ling was discharged from Xiehe Hospital and transferred to other hospitals and rehabilitation centers for treatment.
Case investigation
In addition to looking for a cure for Zhu Ling's recovery, Zhu Ling's parents are also trying to explore a truth - "how did such a large dose of rare metal thallium enter my daughter's body? It's all right
Chinese PinYin : Zhu Ling
Zhu Ling
