What are the health effects and symptoms of inorganic mercury exposure in adults?
• Acute poisoning following exposure to mercury vapours at high levels (over 1 milligram per cubic meter) for a short period, may cause severe irritation of the airways, pneumonitis, pulmonary edema and other symptoms of lung damage. It can damage the brain, nerves, kidneys and lungs and, in extreme cases, may cause coma or death. Some people have experienced tremors, difficulty in coordinating the movement of their feet or hands, problems with balance, and a numbness or prickly sensation in their fingers. • Following chronic exposure to low levels of mercury vapour (50 to 100 microgram per cubic meter), it may take some time to cause adverse effects on the central nervous system, kidney and thyroid, and the effects could be more subtle. It is difficult to distinguish mercury symptoms from some other common ailments. Symptoms include tremors (shaking), muscular weakness, depression, personality changes and short-term memory loss in adults, and skin rashes, particularly redness and peel
