Recently, I learned a shocking news: with the progress of society and urbanization, the etiology of chronic glomerulonephritis and refractory nephrotic syndrome has changed a lot, and the resulting update of therapeutic tools for the etiology is a hot topic in the field of diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases. For refractory chronic glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome, it is important to exclude whether it is due to chronic occult mercury toxicity. Once the diagnosis of mercury poisoning-related kidney damage is confirmed, mercury therapy will become the main treatment for these diseases, and the traditional hormone plus immunosuppressive therapy must be stopped, which will only increase the side effects of the treatment, aggravate the disease or complicate it. The professor said that mercury is a colorless metal, volatile at room temperature, and can be absorbed by the body through the digestive tract, respiratory tract, and surface skin contact, leading to mercury poisoning. In the past, mercury poisoning cases were mostly concentrated in the field of industrial and agricultural production, mainly due to: organic mercury compounds are widely used in the production of pesticides, textiles, paper making and some military industries, due to careless operation or misuse and misinhalation. The main clinical manifestations of acute mercury poisoning: gastrointestinal discomfort, oral lesions, neurological damage, kidney damage, myocarditis, liver function involvement and local contact site lesions such as contact dermatitis, conjunctivitis, corneal edema. Chronic mercury poisoning begins with toxic neurasthenia syndrome, as well as numbness and tingling sensations in the tongue, lips and extremities, tremors, insomnia, body discomfort, proteinuria, wasting and swelling, etc., and progresses to massive proteinuria, hypertension and impaired renal function. Many patients with glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome were only informed of their recent history of using whitening cosmetics, hair dyes, and diet pills through repeated and careful questioning, and some patients had contact with “Cordyceps”, Chinese medicine fumigation, a certain ancestral secret recipe, etc. Some were engaged in gold panning, mining, and some had a history of mercury poisoning. Some patients have a history of exposure to “cordyceps”, Chinese herbal fumigation, a certain ancestral recipe, etc. Some are engaged in gold panning, mining work, and some have unknown medical history, but blood and urine toxicology tests clearly indicate that blood and urine mercury are significantly over the limit, and the condition can be cured after mercury treatment. Through the exchange with the professor, I learned that the PLA 307 Hospital is the poison treatment center of the whole army, and its poison detection technology is second to none in China. The nephrology department of the hospital hired a national outstanding nephrologist and a professor from the Institute of Nephrology of Peking University as a visiting professor of the department at the beginning of this year. The professor was worried about the current situation of the diagnosis and treatment of mercury poisoning-related kidney damage, and after seeing the introduction of several cases of typical mercury poisoning-related kidney damage in the nephrology department of 307 hospital, he asked the patients about the causes of mercury poisoning, treatment and recovery with great interest. The professor said that there are not many reports of mercury poisoning-related kidney damage abroad, but there are many patients with mercury poisoning in China, and there are many reasons for this situation, such as counterfeit and shoddy products, unscrupulous traders who are driven by economic interests to include precious Chinese medicine ingredients, and certain bad lifestyles of the national people. We should not downplay the in-depth research on mercury poisoning-related kidney damage for fear of “losing face”, but should continue to redouble our efforts to increase the popularization of science, so that the whole society, even foreigners, can understand the dangers involved, with a view to early diagnosis and early treatment for the benefit of the whole world. We also hope that the relevant authorities will strengthen their control over the source of mercury to prevent more people from being exposed to this “invisible killer”. Mercury poisoning-related toxicity testing has become a routine test in the process of diagnosis and treatment of refractory nephrotic syndrome and chronic glomerulonephritis in the nephrology department of the hospital, and the specimens are sent to the toxicology laboratory of 307 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army. According to the incomplete statistics of Dr. Su of the Department of Nephrology of Peking University Hospital: mercury poisoning-related kidney damage accounts for 5-20% of the causes of such diseases, and the proportion of mercury poisoning-related factors is even higher in kidney disease patients who have used whitening cosmetics for a long time or have received long-term whitening and slimming services from illegal beauty salons! This data is alarming and unexpected to almost everyone. What is even more worrying is that the vast majority of doctors, even professional nephrologists, are currently not sufficiently aware of this new situation, and the vast majority of hospitals do not carry out routine mercury toxicity-related toxicology testing, so many typical mercury toxicity-related kidney damage cannot be treated promptly and accurately, and patients are often transferred to multiple hospitals and treated for a long time according to the treatment plan for common nephritis and nephropathy, but always to no avail, even to The real cause of the disease is not clear after the emergence of various complications or uremia, and it is impossible to talk about the use of regular and accurate mercury treatment for the cause. During the communication with Prof. Wang, we also learned that most of the patients diagnosed with mercury poisoning-related kidney damage in the Department of Nephrology of 307 Hospital have very good treatment results, and the percentage of protein conversion is more than 50% after the end of mercury chemotherapy, and the rate of urine protein conversion can reach more than 90% after 3 months of follow-up, and they are free from hormone and immunosuppressive treatment. Finally, Prof. Wang Hanbin appealed: please join hands with the whole society to pay attention to mercury poisoning, glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome caused by mercury poisoning; once the manifestation of mercury poisoning appears, the nephrotic patients themselves should learn to help themselves and must perform blood and urine toxicology tests to clarify or exclude whether it is related to mercury poisoning.