[Sensitization to metals in children]

Patch tests with Nickel sulphate, cobalt chloride, bichromate and mercury, were performed in 100 randomized children. Twenty children reacted with allergic positive responses 11 were positive to mercury. Nine to Nickel sulphate. The youngest was a girl of eight months of age, allergic to nickel sulphate and suffering contact dermatitis in the ear lobes, produced by the ear rings that she had brought from her first week of life. Mercury has been the strongest metal in the infancy examined. Biggest incidence of responses are in kids between six and eight years old.