revised final - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ...

MERCURY 156
2. HEALTH EFFECTS
An early study conducted by Schamberg et al. (1918) reported death in rabbits after an ointment containing
50% mercury was “rubbed” into the skin for 5 minutes; however, inadequate experimental methodology
and an absence of study details prevent a determination of the amount of mercury involved.
Organic Mercury. No studies were located regarding death in humans or animals after dermal exposure to
organic mercury.
2.2.3.2 Systemic Effects
No studies were located regarding respiratory, hematological, musculoskeletal, or hepatic effects in humans
or animals after dermal exposure to inorganic or organic mercury.
Cardiovascular Effects
Inorganic Mercury. A number of children who were treated with an ammoniated mercury ointment or
whose diapers had been rinsed in a mercuric chloride solution experienced tachycardia and elevated blood
pressure (Warkany and Hubbard 1953).
No studies were located regarding cardiovascular effects in animals after dermal exposure to inorganic
mercury.
Organic Mercury. No studies were located regarding cardiovascular effects in humans or animals after
dermal exposure to organic mercury.
Gastrointestinal Effects
Inorganic Mercury. Patients who were hypersensitive to mercury (indicated by positive patch tests)
developed stomatitis at the sites of contact with amalgam fillings (Veien 1990). The contact stomatitis
faded when amalgam fillings were removed but persisted in a patient who chose to leave them in place.
Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and black stools were seen in a man who had been receiving treatment
for a wound with daily applications for about 2 months of a Chinese medicine containing mercurous
chloride (Kang-Yum and Oransky 1992). Anorexia was reported in a child who had been treated with an
ammoniated mercury-containing ointment (Warkany and Hubbard 1953). Extensive necrosis, swelling, and