A very interesting find by PhD.

[Guest guest]

[sent by Jim PhD., Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at

Arizona State

University. Shared with permission.]

Below is an old article I just found. It points out that certain bacteria,

namely most strains

of staphylococci, streptococci, yeasts and E. coli, can convert inorganic

mercury to

methylmercury, which is much more easily absorbed. In contrast, normal

anaerobes

generally do NOT do this.

Note that in the unpublished study by Sophie Rosseneu, we found that 95% of

children

with regressive autism and major gut problems had roughly 10,000x the normal

amount

of E. coli, so that any inorganic mercury in their diet would be rapidly

converted to methyl

and absorbed. (Staphylocci Aureas and yeast were at normal levels in her study).

Then, couple this point with the later studies by Rowland which showed that

normal gut

flora convert methylmercury to inorganic forms, preventing its absorption in the

gut, and

causing it to be excreted; and antibiotics result in a loss of that ability, so

any mercury

excreted in the bile is remethylated and reabsorbed.

So, oral antibiotics cause two problems:

1) loss of normal anaerobes, which can demethylate methylmercury into

inorganic

mercury

2) increase of E. coli and yeast, which methylate inorganic mercury into

methylmercury

(which is almost totally reabsorbed in the gut)

Experientia. 1975 Sep 15;31(9):1064-5.

Related Articles, Links

The methylation of mercuric chloride by human intestinal bacteria.

Rowland IR, Grasso P, Davies MJ.

Most strains of staphylococci, streptococci, yeasts and E. coli isolated from

human faeces,

could synthesize methylmercury compounds. In contrast, few strains of obligate

anaerobes could do so. Up to 6 ng methylmercury/ml were formed in 44 h from 2

mug

mercuric chloride.