MERCURY (quick silver)
• Metallic Hg is a heavy, silvery, liquid which per se is non toxic.
Uses
• Barometer, thermometer
• Batteries, electrical appliances, explosives
• Fluorescent & mercury vapor lamps
• Medicinal uses
Absorbed through all portals of entry
• Acute Poisoning
• Metallic taste, dysphagia, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle cramps, dehydration and collapse
• Renal tubular damage
Autopsy findings
• Greyish corrosion of GIT
• Ulceration of large intestine
• Congestion of kidneys
Treatment
BAL, Penicillamine
MEDICOLEGAL SIGNIFICANCE
1. Accidental
2. Minamata disease
Minamata disease
Chronic mercury poisoning (Hydrargyrism)
• Tremors
“Danbury tremor”
“Hatter’s shake”/ “Glassblower’s shake”
“Concussio mercurialis”
• Erethism (Psychological effects)
Anxiety, depression, shyness, timidity, insomnia, delusion, hallucination
• Mercuria lentis
Brownish deposit on anterior lens capsule
• Acrodynia (Swift’s disease/ Pink disease)
• Idiosyncratic hypersensitivity reaction especially
in children,
characterised by generalised body rash.
Puffy, pinkish, painful, paraesthetic, perspiring & peeling (hands & feet)
