Mercury toxicity: A clinical perspective

Patients, a truce to the disgust which may be caused by this remedy! For if it is disgusting, the disease (syphilis) is still more so. Besides, your cure is at this price. So without hesitation, spread this mixture on your body and cover with it your entire skin, with the exception of the head and of the precordial region. Then, carefully wrap yourself in wool and tow; then get into bed, load yourself with bed covering and thus await until a sweat bathes your limbs with an impure dew. Ten days in succession renew this treatment, for ten entire days you are to undergo this cruel trial whose beneficial effect will not cause you to wait. As a matter of fact, very soon an infallible presage will announce to you the hour of your freedom. Very soon you will feel the ferments of the disease dissolve themselves in your mouth in a disgusting flow of saliva, and you will see the virus, even the virus, evacuate itself at your feet in rivers of saliva. If during the course of this treatment, small ulcers develop in your mouth, have a care to fight them with gargles of milk or by a decoction of pomegranate privet. This treatment being completed, you may then, without fear, recall Bacchus to your table and enjoy in full liberty the generous nectars of Phetia, of Falcernum, and of Chios. Girolamo Fracastoro, "Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus", 1530 A.D. Throughout recorded time, mercury has held the dubious distinction as both a valuable resource in medical, agricultural, industrial, and household uses, as well as a toxin causing immense morbidity and mortality. The above passage by Fracastorius not only described and named the scourge of "syphilis" as it swept across Europe, but also vividly illustrated the poisonous nature of mercury (note the salivation, sweating, and mucosal ulcers) even as a medicinal cure. The clinical presentation of excessive mercury exposure can vary tremendously, depending on the form of mercury, route of exposure, dose, duration of exposure, and susceptibility of the exposed individual. Since treatment options are limited, prevention remains the mainstay of therapy.