The difference between red mercury and purple mercury

I believe that everyone has often heard of red mercury and purple mercury in their lives, but they don’t know what the difference between the two is. This is non-irritating and has a strong extinction effect on some bacteria, staphylococci, and Candida. Red mercury also has an antibacterial effect, but the bacteria it resists are different from those of purple mercury, so everyone needs to pay special attention.

Purple mercury is harmless and non-irritating to the human body. Because it has a selective inactivation effect on Gram-positive bacteria, especially a strong killing effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Candida albicans, etc., a 0.1% to 1% aqueous solution is clinically used to treat skin and mucous membrane trauma infections, eczema, ringworm, thrush, oral ulcers, glossitis, etc. It can also be used for small-area burns.

Mercurochrome , an organic compound, is 2,7-dibromo-4-hydroxymercury fluorescent red disodium salt; also known as red mercury, with green or bluish-green reddish-brown flakes or granules. Odorless. It is hygroscopic. It is easily soluble in water, slightly soluble in ethanol and acetone, insoluble in chloroform and ether. Its aqueous solution is cherry red or dark red, and exhibits green fluorescence when diluted. It precipitates when exposed to dilute inorganic acids. In medicine, it is an external disinfectant. Its 2% aqueous solution, commonly known as mercurochrome, is suitable for disinfection of superficial skin wounds. Its mercury ions dissociate and combine with proteins, thereby playing a bactericidal role. It is ineffective against bacterial spores, has a weak preservative effect, and is not easy to penetrate intact skin. But it causes less irritation to the skin. And it cannot be used at the same time as iodine.

Antibacterial effect Mercurochrome is the oldest organic mercury preservative, which only has antibacterial effect. Contrary to earlier assumptions, it is absorbed through burned or otherwise resorbable surfaces. In 1968, Schippen reported that among 13 newborns with large umbilical herniation, 6 cases were fatal and 2 survived, but with obvious symptoms of poisoning and high concentrations of mercury in blood and urine. All of them had used mercurochrome. There were no visible signs of mercury poisoning histologically, but mercury concentrations were quite high in various organs. The authors believed that the three deaths were indeed caused by mercurochrome poisoning. The symptoms appeared in a very similar pattern. A severe rash appeared on the second day of treatment and continued to worsen in the following days. The urine was light red (possibly caused by mercurochrome). Sclerosis appeared on the third day, progressive oliguria appeared on the fourth day, and death occurred on the 3rd to 5th day due to central nervous system symptoms. In 1977, Frogen et al. reported 13 cases of umbilical hernia treated with thimerosal, in which 10 infants died. Fresh formalin-fixed tissues from 6 of the cases were examined, and it was found that thimerosal could also cause the concentration of mercury in the blood and organs to greatly exceed the maximum toxic dose for adults and fetuses. Therefore, neither mercurobromide nor thimerosal are currently considered to be options for the conservative treatment of large umbilical hernias.

Clinical study Weber reported a 37-year-old burn patient (burn area reached 50% of body surface area) who was treated with Grob method (2% mercurochrome, 5% tannic acid and 10% silver nitrate). On the sixth day of treatment, the patient's urine was pink. On the eighth day, he gradually developed activity disorders, mental confusion, coma and hypothermia, and died of respiratory failure on the tenth day. His urinary mercury concentration reached 2.17 mg/L and reached 1.25 mg/L on the ninth day. Therefore, the author believes that mercurochrome should no longer be used to treat burns. Camarasa reported a case of a male fishmonger who developed a severe local perilesional eruption after using mercurochrome to disinfect his wounds. The eruption spread to the whole body within a few hours and was further aggravated by the appearance of facial erythema, edema, and herpetiform eruptions as well as laryngeal edema. Because the reaction of mercurochrome is too violent, 2% mercurochrome was not used for skin contact testing. In addition, 2 similar cases were reported. Therefore, extreme caution should be exercised when conducting skin contact tests on patients who react violently to mercurochrome.

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