The greatest danger is posed by toxic mercury fumes. Mercury poisoning occurs when they are inhaled – the higher the concentration, the more serious the consequences. With a slight lesion, headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and weakness are possible, with more serious or chronic forms – damage to internal organs up to death.
A broken thermometer poses a serious threat to human health. Despite the seeming insignificance of such an emergency, without prompt measures, the situation can result in deep damage to internal organs, coma, and even death. Only 2 grams of liquid metal, being released from a broken thermometer, will completely poison the atmosphere in the room in 2-3 hours!
At room temperatures, mercury transforms into toxic metal vapors, which are the most dangerous. Simple calculations will help to assess the possible damage:
At temperatures above 18 degrees, mercury contained in a thermometer can emit up to 0.08 mg / m3 of highly toxic vapors in a couple of hours (in a room of about 60 sq.m.);
MPC of mercury for residential premises – 0.0003 mg/m3
The difference is so great that neither protective equipment nor repeated ventilation will save, because the source of pollution will not go anywhere – it will still be in the room! Even the most thorough self-cleaning will not help – small particles of mercury, invisible to the eye, are extremely volatile. Getting on furniture upholstery, carpeting, in cracks in the floor, under skirting boards and in other hard-to-reach places, they cannot be removed with banal detergents and disinfectants. The only way to get rid of the impending danger of mercury poisoning is professional demercurization followed by measuring poisonous fumes in the room!
As a rule, the first symptoms of mercury poisoning with a high concentration of its vapors are not long in coming. Toxic particles, entering the respiratory system, quickly penetrate into the bloodstream, infecting the entire body. Acute manifestations usually become noticeable within a few days and affect the nervous, digestive and respiratory systems.
The victim has pronounced symptoms of heavy metal intoxication – drowsiness, lethargy, impaired coordination and fine motor skills, apathy, slight tremor. Headache attacks are not stopped by analgesics, and a specific taste of metal appears on the tongue and gums. There may also be pain on inhalation and swallowing, characterized by burning and itching in the larynx.
Such symptoms are a kind of “first bells” and are easily cured, it is enough just to remove the source of poisoning from the room. However, if you ignore them, the situation may be aggravated by damage to the cardiovascular and endocrine systems, and then longer treatment will be required.
Chronic intoxication with mercury fumes, despite its lesser severity, is much more dangerous than acute. Such a pathology develops when low concentrations of mercury vapor are inhaled – for example, after poor-quality demercurization or episodic (but regular) visits to an infected place. In this case, pathological processes can develop for months without manifesting themselves.
At the same time, headache attacks can be attributed to completely natural health problems that occur in everyone, and apathy, drowsiness, emotional imbalance can be attributed to overwork, stress or depression, which also will not surprise anyone. That is why, when the symptoms become more pronounced and they can be associated with mercury poisoning, it may be too late, because it is quite difficult to restore the functionality of the internal organs in this case.
Unfortunately, household thermometers are quite fragile, so toxic metal spills are a fairly common incident that we encounter almost daily. Knowing the dangers of mercury poisoning, do not neglect the safety rules that can save your health and help avoid serious complications.
Contacting «mercury expert», you will learn the dangers of mercury poisoning and protect yourself from the life-threatening consequences of mercury vapor poisoning. Protect your family and friends from the deadly threat. Our company provides advisory assistance, helping to navigate in an emergency, and experts promptly go to the scene of the accident to urgently clean the premises from toxic compounds.