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

MERCURY 304
2. HEALTH EFFECTS
Acute renal failure that persisted for 10 days was observed in a 19-month-old child who ingested an
unknown amount of powdered mercuric chloride (Samuels et al. 1982). Several children who were treated
with medications containing mercurous chloride for constipation, worms, or teething discomfort exhibited
flushing of the palms of the hands and soles of the feet (Warkany and Hubbard 1953). The flushing was
frequently accompanied by itching, swelling, and desquamation of these areas. Morbilliform rashes,
conjunctivitis, and excessive perspiration were also frequently observed in the affected children. Patch tests
conducted in several children revealed that the rashes were not allergic reactions to the mercury. They also
had irritability, fretfulness, sleeplessness, weakness, photophobia, muscle twitching, hyperactive or
hypoactive tendon reflexes, and/or confusion.
A 13-month-old child who ingested porridge made from flour that had been treated with an alkyl mercury
compound (specific mercury compound not reported) developed a measles-like rash, fever, and facial
flushing (Engleson and Herner 1952). A 4-year-old boy who had been given a Chinese medicine containing
mercurous chloride for 3 months developed drooling, dysphagia, irregular arm movements, and impaired gait
(Kang-Yum and Oransky 1992). 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, and anorexia (Warkany and Hubbard 1953).
In addition, rashes, conjunctivitis, and/or excessive perspiration were observed. These dermal and ocular
reactions were not attributed to allergic-type reactions to the mercury. A 23-month-old boy who was
exposed to an unspecified form of mercury also developed a "diffuse, pinpoint, erythematous, papular rash"
and bright red finger tips "with large sheets of peeling skin" (Tunnessen et al. 1987).
A woman chronically exposed to an undetermined concentration of mercury vapor reported that her first
pregnancy resulted in spontaneous abortion, and her second resulted in the death of the newborn soon after
birth (Derobert and Tara 1950). It is unclear whether the reproductive toxicity experienced by the woman
was due to the mercury exposure. However, after recovery from overt mercury poisoning, she gave birth to
a healthy child. Not all exposures lead to immediate adverse effects. A woman occupationally exposed to
mercury vapors for 2 years prior to pregnancy and throughout pregnancy was reported to have delivered a
viable infant at term (Melkonian and Baker 1988). Urinary mercury in the woman at 15 weeks of pregnancy
was 0.875 mg/L (normal levels are approximately 0.004 mg/L). A case report of a woman exposed to
mercury vapors in her home during the first 17 weeks of pregnancy reported that the woman delivered a
normal child who met all developmental milestones (although the child was not formally tested