Metallic mercury poisoning

Among traditional toxins, mercury has an infamous heritage. Despite 2,000 years of recognized dangers, it continues to menace mankind. Bygone years focused on the dangers of the inorganic form, the past two decades have uncovered aftermaths of the organic form. Over the past ten years our Center has seen patients afflicted by the metallic form via four different avenues of exposure. In the first instance, a toddler succumbed to the effects of accidentally spilled high school chemistry quicksilver on a dining room carpet. In the second, a broken mercury switch in an infant isolette, was responsible for environmental contamination and infants' exposures. In a third, misguided efforts to extract gold from ore affected an entire family and particularly their male toddler with disastrous pulmonary problems. A fourth instance saw intravenous injection of metallic mercury lead to a most unusual chest radiograph and be associated with the demise of an already severely affected cardiac cripple. Highlights of each of these cases will be reviewed as they illustrate the importance of identifying the precise form of any chemical involved in a exposure and the essentiality of such information in predicting toxicity and recommending treatment.