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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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Mercury binds to sulfhydryl groups in many tissue enzymes and proteins, and thereby causes direct damage to cells and their functions. This damage can be drastic and eventually precipitate failure of organ systems such as the lungs, kidneys or the nervous system.

Outbreaks of mercury occur usually when there is an industrial release of mercury or methylmercury into the environment. The classic example of such a disaster is the contamination of Minamata Bay in Japan, where the term Minamata disease originated. Studies from about 1956 to 1960 suggested the unusual symptoms (neurological) found in people in this area was traced back to industrial wastewater containing methylmercury. Over 2,200 people were diagnosed and over 1,700 deaths were eventually attributed to methylmercury toxicity. Mercury has been used in skin creams; the most recent problem cream was identified in 1996 from Mexico named "Crèma de Belleza-Manning."

Mercury poisoning can be caused by all forms of mercury (elemental, vapor, inorganic, and organic). Poisoning of humans can occur from inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact with the various forms of mercury.

Inhalation poisoning occurs when elemental mercury is vaporized, usually in a closed indoor space, when products such as thermometers, medical equipment, valves or other products are broken open and elemental mercury escapes. Any heating of elemental mercury increases its rate of vaporization (slow vaporization occurs at room temperature) which worsens inhalation exposure.

Ingestion is one of the most frequent ways in which people get mercury poisoning; and mercury is most frequently ingested in the organic methylmercury form of mercury. Methylmercury (also termed methyl mercury, monomethylmercury or monomethylmercuric cation) is generated by two general processes; as an industrial production byproduct and microbially produced when elemental and vaporized mercury eventually reaches water. Unfortunately, methylmercury enters the tissues of fish (and shellfish) where it remains. The more methylmercury that is present in the environment, the higher the concentration in the fish tissue. Methylmercury is not cleared out of fish tissue; the older and larger the fish, especially those fish that eat other fish (for example, shark, sailfish, tuna, and marlin) the higher the methylmercury levels can be in their tissue. People that eat such fish may get mercury poisoning.

Inorganic mercury (for example, mercury compounds in batteries) most frequently causes human toxicity when ingested or adsorbed by the skin. Many inorganic mercury compounds are caustic (dissolve tissue).

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