What harm does mercury do to the human body

Our earliest understanding of mercury may be from the thermometers at home when we were young. When they were accidentally broken, small silver bead-shaped substances would appear. These were mercury. When you are young and ignorant, you may try to grab it with your hands and think it is fun. In fact, mercury is very harmful to the human body. It is highly corrosive and can cause mercury poisoning through breathing without even touching it.

1. Mercury is corrosive to the digestive tract and damaging to the kidneys and capillaries. Acute poisoning is mostly caused by accidental ingestion of mercuric chloride, with symptoms caused by gastrointestinal corrosion. After absorption, it causes kidney damage leading to urinary retention and capillary damage causing plasma loss, and even shock. Early application of dimercaptopropanol and other symptomatic measures are mostly effective. Chronic poisoning is generally seen in industrial poisoning, resulting in stomatitis and toxic encephalopathy, the latter of which manifests as mental symptoms such as depression, shrinkage and muscle tremors.

2. Trace amounts of liquid mercury are generally non-toxic when swallowed (some information suggests that it will form organic compounds in the body), but mercury vapor and mercury salts (except for some with extremely low solubility such as mercuric sulfide) are highly toxic and can cause brain and liver damage after oral ingestion, inhalation or contact. Alcohol is generally used to replace mercury in thermometers. Thermometers used in the People's Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) still use mercury.

3. The main systemic symptoms of acute mercury poisoning include headache, dizziness, fatigue, low-grade fever, sleep disorders, emotional agitation, irritability, chest pain, chest tightness, shortness of breath, severe cough, sputum, dyspnea, stomatitis, "mercury lines" visible on the gingival margin, swelling, erosion, ulcers of the oral mucosa, loose teeth, loss of teeth, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea or bloody stools, kidney damage, dermatitis, and a significant increase in urinary mercury.

4. Chronic mercury poisoning may cause dizziness, headache, insomnia, frequent dreams, obvious memory loss, general fatigue, uneasiness, depression, shyness, timidity, irritability, boredom, impatience, fear, loss of self-confidence, inattention, disordered thinking, hallucinations, visual and auditory hallucinations, crying and laughing at random, palpitations, sweating, unstable blood pressure, blushing, positive skin scratch sign, loss of libido, impotence, menstrual disorders, metallic taste in the mouth, dark blue mercury lines on the gums, drooling, thirst, congested and swollen gums or pus ulcers and pain, loose teeth that are easy to fall off, nausea, loss of appetite, belching, diarrhea or constipation, tremors, kidney damage, and a few patients develop "mercury" crystalline lens inflammation and may also have symptoms of peripheral neuritis.

5. The main preventive measures are to replace mercury with mercury-free materials as much as possible, reform the process, operate in a closed manner, strengthen ventilation and exhaust, use iodine and mercury vapor in the workshop to combine into non-volatile mercuric iodide and then rinse it with water, pay attention to personal protection and hygiene habits, and wear iodized activated carbon masks.