Ad
related to: effect of mercury on humans
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Mercury poisoning is a type of metal poisoning due to exposure to mercury. [3] Symptoms depend upon the type, dose, method, and duration of exposure. [3] [4] They may include muscle weakness, poor coordination, numbness in the hands and feet, skin rashes, anxiety, memory problems, trouble speaking, trouble hearing, or trouble seeing. [1]
The human fetus and medically compromised people (for example, patients with lung or kidney problems) are the most susceptible to the toxic effects of mercury. [9] Mercury poisoning can also occur outside of occupational exposures including in the home.
Eating fish is the main source of mercury exposure in humans and some fish may contain enough mercury to harm the developing nervous system of an embryo or fetus, sometimes leading to learning disabilities. [10] Mercury is present in many types of fish, but it is mostly found in certain large fish.
Minamata disease (Japanese: 水俣病, Hepburn: Minamata-byō) 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.
The toxic effects of arsenic, mercury and lead were known to the ancients but methodical studies of the overall toxicity of heavy metals appear to date from only 1868. In that year, Wanklyn and Chapman speculated on the adverse effects of the heavy metals "arsenic, lead, copper, zinc, iron and manganese" in drinking water. They noted an ...
Methylmercury (sometimes methyl mercury) is an organometallic cation with the formula [CH 3 Hg] +. It is the simplest organomercury compound. Methylmercury is extremely toxic, and its derivatives are the major source of organic mercury for humans. It is a bioaccumulative environmental toxicant with a 50-day half-life.
Therefore, a common characteristic of toxic metals is the chronic nature of their toxicity. This is particularly notable with radioactive heavy metals such as radium, which imitates calcium to the point of being incorporated into human bone, although similar health implications are found in lead or mercury poisoning.
Acrodynia is a medical condition which occurs due to mercury poisoning. The condition of pain and dusky pink discoloration in the hands and feet is due to exposure or ingesting of mercury. It was known as pink disease (due to these symptoms) before it was accepted that it was just mercury poisoning. [1]