Mercury and Your Immune system

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http://www.teleport.com/~ctseng/cfs_pages/index2.html

dental mercury exposure

http://www.cfsn.com/dental.html

" ...Overlooked has been the amount of mercury in feces, which demonstrates

both exposure and excretion from the blood and tissues by the liver. The

levels measured by Osterblad et. al. in the article " Antimicrobial and

mercury resistance in aerobic gram-negative bacilli in fecal flora among

persons with and without dental amalgam fillings " published in Antimicrobial

Agents & Chemotherapy, 39(11):2499-502 1995 Nov; are disturbing, and clearly

demonstrate that human mercury exposure is dominated by the presence of

mercury dental fillings. " <snip>

MELISA testing

http://www.cfsn.com/melisa.html

MELISA stands for " Memory Lymphocyte Immunostimulation Assay " , an " in vitro "

test for metal allergy.

What MELISA provides is a reliable, objective means for determining

individual immune system sensitivity to specific metals, and metal

compounds.

Early work with MELISA indicates a subset of the general human population,

at least 14%, form a memory lymphocyte mediated immune response specific to

commonly used dental metals, at the concentrations they are leaching from

dental restorations into the digestive system, tissues, and blood stream.

<snip>

Research

Title: Mercury-specific lymphocytes: an indication of mercury allergy in

man.

Author: Stejskal VD; Forsbeck M; Cederbrant KE; Asteman O

Source: Journal of Clinical Immunology, 16(1):31-40 1996 Jan

Abstract:

In this study, 18 patients with oral lichen planus (OLP), adjacent to

amalgam fillings, were tested in vitro with an optimized lymphocyte

proliferation test, MELISA (memory lymphocyte immunostimulation assay) and

with a patch test. Twenty subjects with amalgam fillings but without oral

discomfort and 12 amalgam-free subjects served as controls. The results show

that patients with OLP have significantly higher lymphocyte reactivity to

inorganic mercury, a corrosion product of amalgam, compared to control

groups. Removal of amalgam fillings resulted in the disappearance of oral

mucosal changes, thus indicating a causal relationship. Positive responses

to phenylmercury (phenyl-Hg), a bactericidal agent in root fillings and in

pharmaceutical preparations, were also noted in the oral lichen group but

not in the control groups. Thus, low-grade chronic exposure to mercury may

induce a state of systemic sensitization as verified by Hg-specific

lymphocyte reactivity in vitro.