Acute mercury poisoning, involving a number of organs, leads to severe dysfunctions, such as acute renal failure (ARF), and even threatens patients' lives. A case of acute severe mercuric chloride (HgCl2) poisoning with multiple organ failure was reported in this study.
The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal. The inorganic salts of mercury are corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested.
In general, mercury tends to affect the nervous system. This means that unborn babies and children are at more risk because their nervous systems are developing.
Mercury ions have strong renal tubular toxicity, resulting in vacuolation, degeneration, and necrosis of the tubular epithelial cells. Together, these effects result in kidney disease.
High exposure to inorganic mercury may result in damage to the gastrointestinal tract, the nervous system, and the kidneys. Both inorganic and organic mercury are absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract and affect other systems through this route.
The liver is a major site of metabolism for mercury and it can accumulate in the liver, resulting in severe hepatic damages.
Some of the health effects exposure to mercury may cause include: irritation to the eyes, skin, and stomach; cough, chest pain, or difficulty breathing, insomnia, irritability, indecision, headache, weakness or exhaustion, and weight loss. Workers may be harmed from exposure to mercury.
The traditional treatment for mercury poisoning is to stop all exposures. In many cases, chelation therapy is also used. This involves giving a medication (the chelator) which goes into the body and grabs the metal (chelos is the Greek word for claw) then carries the metal out of the body, usually into the urine.
Salmon is low in mercury.
Farmed salmon has on average, 0.05 micrograms of mercury per gram. This is well below the levels deemed safe for women and children by the FDA and EPA, which inform the United States Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA).
Ideally, you should have no mercury in your body, but small amounts—which usually from your diet—pose no true problems. However, in some cases, mercury can accumulate in the body over time and result in chronic mercury poisoning—posing a serious threat to one's health.
The body will slowly rid itself of mercury through the urine and stool, but if an excessive amount accumulates, it can permanently damage the kidneys, nervous system, and brain.
A mercury urine test detects the level of inorganic mercury in your body. Your healthcare practitioner will give your results in micrograms per liter (mcg/L). Urine levels of mercury less than 10 mcg/L are considered normal. Having some mercury in your urine doesn't mean you'll develop health problems.
The most common way people in the U.S. are exposed to mercury is by eating seafood contaminated with methylmercury. Nearly all fish and shellfish contain trace amounts of methylmercury.
Many studies show that high exposure to mercury induces changes in the central nervous system, potentially resulting in irritability, fatigue, behavioral changes, tremors, headaches, hearing and cognitive loss, dysarthria, incoordination, hallucinations, and death.
The most common way people in the United States are exposed to mercury is by eating fish containing methylmercury. Other exposures may result from using or breaking products containing mercury.
Minamata disease is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech.
Neurological damage
Share on Pinterest Mercury poisoning may cause slow reflexes, damaged motor skills, and intelligence disorders. High levels of mercury in the blood may put a person at risk for long-term neurological damage. These effects may be more pronounced in children who are still developing.
Among adults and children, following ingestion, through bloodstream, methyl mercury target organs are the Central Nervous System - especially the cerebellum and the visual cortex, and the Peripheral Nervous System - targeting the spinal dorsal root ganglia.
What medical testing is used to detect mercury exposure? The most commonly accepted methods of assessing mercury exposure are to test urine or blood. Both tests usually measure levels of total mercury (elemental, inorganic and organic).
Pick your tuna. *An average 5-ounce serving (1 can) of light tuna contains 18.11 micrograms of mercury. *An average 5-ounce serving (1 can) of albacore tuna contains 49.53 micrograms of mercury. *An average 5-ounce serving of tuna steak or tuna sushi could contain up to 97.49 micrograms.
Recommendations for healthy tuna consumption can vary greatly. Some sources say eating more than a serving of tuna each week may put you at risk. However, other sources say that you would need to eat at least three cans of tuna a day for 6 months to risk mercury toxicity.