Thiomersal

Thiomersal
Names
IUPAC name
Ethyl(2-mercaptobenzoato-(2-)-O,S) mercurate(1-) sodium
Other names
Mercury((o-carboxyphenyl)thio)ethyl sodium salt
Identifiers
54-64-8 YesY
ChEBI CHEBI:9546 YesY
ChEMBL ChEMBL508338 YesY
ChemSpider 10772045 YesY
EC Number 200-210-4
Jmol 3D model Interactive image
PubChem 16684434
RTECS number OV8400000
UNII 2225PI3MOV YesY
Properties
C9H9HgNaO2S
Molar mass 404.81 g/mol
Appearance White or slightly yellow powder
Density 2.508 g/cm3[1]
Melting point 232 to 233 °C (450 to 451 °F; 505 to 506 K) (decomposition)
1000 g/l (20 °C)
Pharmacology
D08AK06 (WHO)
Hazards
Safety data sheet External MSDS
Very toxic (T+)
Dangerous for the environment (N)
Repr. Cat. 1
R-phrases R26/27/28 R33 R40 R50/53 R60 R61
S-phrases S13 S28 S36 S45 S53 S60 S61
NFPA 704
Flammability code 1: Must be pre-heated before ignition can occur. Flash point over 93 °C (200 °F). E.g., canola oil Health code 3: Short exposure could cause serious temporary or residual injury. E.g., chlorine gas Reactivity code 1: Normally stable, but can become unstable at elevated temperatures and pressures. E.g., calcium Special hazards (white): no codeNFPA 704 four-colored diamond
1
3
1
Flash point 250 °C (482 °F; 523 K)
Lethal dose or concentration (LD, LC):
75 mg/kg (oral, rat)[2]
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
YesY verify (what is YesYN ?)
Infobox references

Thiomersal (INN), commonly known in the U.S. as thimerosal, is an organomercury compound. This compound is a well established antiseptic and antifungal agent.

The pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company gave thiomersal the trade name Merthiolate. It has been used as a preservative in vaccines, immunoglobulin preparations, skin test antigens, antivenins, ophthalmic and nasal products, and tattoo inks.[3] Its use as a vaccine preservative was controversial, and it was phased out from routine childhood vaccines in the European Union, and a few other countries in response to popular fears.[4] The current scientific consensus is that no convincing scientific evidence supports these fears.[5][6][7]

In the U.S., Thiomersal has been removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age and younger with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine. Vaccines with trace amounts of thiomersal contain 1 microgram or less of mercury per dose.[8][9]

History

Morris Kharasch, a chemist at the University of Maryland, filed a patent application for thiomersal in 1927;[10] Eli Lilly later marketed the compound under the trade name Merthiolate.[11] In vitro tests conducted by Lilly investigators H. M. Powell and W. A. Jamieson found that it was forty to fifty times as effective as phenol against Staphylococcus aureus.[11] It was used to kill bacteria and prevent contamination in antiseptic ointments, creams, jellies, and sprays used by consumers and in hospitals, including nasal sprays, eye drops, contact lens solutions, immunoglobulins, and vaccines. Thiomersal was used as a preservative (bactericide) so that multidose vials of vaccines could be used instead of single-dose vials, which are more expensive. By 1938, Lilly's assistant director of research listed thiomersal as one of the five most important drugs ever developed by the company.[11]

Structure

Thiomersal features mercury(II) with a coordination number 2, i.e. two ligands are attached to Hg, the thiolate and the ethyl group. The carboxylate group is not coordinated, but confers solubility in water. Like other two-coordinate Hg(II) compounds, the coordination geometry of Hg is linear, with a 180° S-Hg-C angle. Typically, organomercury thiolate compounds are prepared from organomercury chlorides.[1]

Use

Thiomersal's main use is as an antiseptic and antifungal agent. In multidose injectable drug delivery systems, it prevents serious adverse effects such as the Staphylococcus infection that, in one 1928 incident, killed 12 of 21 children vaccinated with a diphtheria vaccine that lacked a preservative.[12] Unlike other vaccine preservatives used at the time, thiomersal does not reduce the potency of the vaccines that it protects.[11] Bacteriostatics such as thiomersal are not needed in single-dose injectables.[13]

In the United States, countries in the European Union and a few other affluent countries, thiomersal is no longer used as a preservative in routine childhood vaccination schedules.[4] In the U.S., the only exceptions among vaccines routinely recommended for children are some formulations of the inactivated influenza vaccine for children older than two years.[14] Several vaccines that are not routinely recommended for young children do contain thiomersal, including DT (diphtheria and tetanus), Td (tetanus and diphtheria), and TT (tetanus toxoid); other vaccines may contain a trace of thiomersal from steps in manufacture.[12] Also, four rarely used treatments for pit viper, coral snake, and black widow venom still contain thiomersal.[15] Outside North America and Europe, many vaccines contain thiomersal; the World Health Organization has concluded that there is no evidence of toxicity from thiomersal in vaccines and no reason on safety grounds to change to more expensive single-dose administration.[16] The United Nations Environment Program backed away from an earlier proposal of adding thiomersal in vaccines to the list of banned compounds in a treaty aimed at reducing exposure to mercury worldwide.[17] Citing medical and scientific consensus that thiomersal in vaccines posed no safety issues, but that eliminating the preservative in multi-dose vaccines, primarily used in developing countries, will lead to high cost and a requirement for refrigeration which the developing countries can ill afford, the UN’s final decision is to exclude thiomersal from the treaty.[18]

Toxicology

Thiomersal is very toxic by inhalation, ingestion, and in contact with skin (EC hazard symbol T+), with a danger of cumulative effects. It is also very toxic to aquatic organisms and may cause long-term adverse effects in aquatic environments (EC hazard symbol N).[19] In the body, it is metabolized or degraded to ethylmercury (C2H5Hg+) and thiosalicylate.[12]

Cases have been reported of severe Mercury poisoning by accidental exposure or attempted suicide, with some fatalities.[20] Animal experiments suggest that thiomersal rapidly dissociates to release ethylmercury after injection; that the disposition patterns of mercury are similar to those after exposure to equivalent doses of ethylmercury chloride; and that the central nervous system and the kidneys are targets, with lack of motor coordination being a common sign. Similar signs and symptoms have been observed in accidental human poisonings. The mechanisms of toxic action are unknown. Fecal excretion accounts for most of the elimination from the body. Ethylmercury clears from blood with a half-life of about 18 days in adults by breakdown into other chemicals, including inorganic mercury. Ethylmercury is eliminated from the brain in about 14 days in infant monkeys. Risk assessment for effects on the nervous system have been made by extrapolating from dose-response relationships for methylmercury.[21] Methylmercury and ethylmercury distribute to all body tissues, crossing the blood–brain barrier and the placental barrier, and ethylmercury also moves freely throughout the body.[22] Concerns based on extrapolations from methylmercury caused thiomersal to be removed from U.S. childhood vaccines, starting in 1999. Since then, it has been found that ethylmercury is eliminated from the body and the brain significantly faster than methylmercury, so the late-1990s risk assessments turned out to be overly conservative.[21] Though inorganic mercury metabolized from ethylmercury has a much longer half-life in the brain, at least 120 days, it appears to be much less toxic than the inorganic mercury produced from mercury vapor, for reasons not yet understood.[21]

Allergies

Patch test

Thiomersal is used in patch testing for people who have dermatitis, conjunctivitis, and other potentially allergic reactions. A 2007 study in Norway found that 1.9% of adults had a positive patch test reaction to thiomersal;[23] a higher prevalence of contact allergy (up to 6.6%) was observed in German populations.[24] Thiomersal-sensitive individuals can receive intramuscular rather than subcutaneous immunization,[25] though there have been no large sample sized studies regarding this matter to date. In real-world practice on vaccination of adult populations, contact allergy does not seem to elicit clinical reaction.[24] Thiomersal allergy has decreased in Denmark, probably because of its exclusion from vaccines there.[26] In a recent study of Polish children and adolescents with chronic/recurrent eczema, positive reactions to thiomersal were found in 11.7% of children (7–8 y.o.) and 37.6% of adolescents (16–17 y.o.). This difference in the sensitization rates can be explained by changing exposure patterns: The adolescents have received six thiomersal-preserved vaccines during their life course, with the last immunization taking place 2–3 years before the mentioned study, younger children received only four thiomersal-preserved vaccines, with the last one applied 5 years before the study, while further immunizations were performed with new thiomersal-free vaccines.[27]

Autism

Following a review of mercury-containing food and drugs mandated in 1999, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics asked vaccine manufacturers to remove thiomersal from vaccines as a purely precautionary measure, and it was rapidly phased out of most U.S. and European vaccines.[11][28] Many parents saw the action to remove thiomersal—in the setting of a perceived increasing rate of autism as well as increasing number of vaccines in the childhood vaccination schedule—as indicating that the preservative was the cause of autism.[11] The scientific consensus is that there is no scientific evidence supporting these claims, including the observation that the rate of autism continues to climb despite elimination of thiomersal from routine childhood vaccines.[29][30][31][7] Major scientific and medical bodies such as the Institute of Medicine[31] and World Health Organization,[32] as well as governmental agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration[12] and the CDC[33] reject any role for thiomersal in autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.[34] This controversy has caused harm due to parents attempting to treat their autistic children with unproven and possibly dangerous treatments, discouraging parents from vaccinating their children due to fears about thiomersal toxicity,[35] and diverting resources away from research into more promising areas for the cause of autism.[36] Thousands of lawsuits have been filed in a U.S. federal court to seek damages from alleged toxicity from vaccines, including those purportedly caused by thiomersal.[37]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Melnick, J. G.; Yurkerwich, K.; Buccella, D.; Sattler, W.; Parkin, G. (2008). "Molecular Structures of Thimerosal (Merthiolate) and Other Arylthiolate Mercury Alkyl Compounds". Inorg. Chem. 47 (14): 6421–6426. doi:10.1021/ic8005426. PMID 18533648.
  2. ↑ http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/rn/54-64-8
  3. ↑ Sharpe, M. A.; Livingston, A. D.; Baskin, D. S. (2012). "Thimerosal-Derived Ethylmercury is a Mitochondrial Toxin in Human Astrocytes: Possible Role of Fenton Chemistry in the Oxidation and Breakage of mtDNA". Journal of Toxicology 2012: 1. doi:10.1155/2012/373678.
  4. 1 2 Bigham M, Copes R (2005). "Thiomersal in vaccines: balancing the risk of adverse effects with the risk of vaccine-preventable disease". Drug Saf 28 (2): 89–101. doi:10.2165/00002018-200528020-00001. PMID 15691220.
  5. ↑ Immunization Safety Review Committee, Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine (2004). Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. ISBN 0-309-09237-X.
  6. ↑ Doja, Asif; Roberts, Wendy (November 2006). "Immunizations and autism: a review of the literature". Can J Neurol Sci 33 (4): 341–6. doi:10.1017/s031716710000528x. PMID 17168158.
  7. 1 2 "Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism". www.cdc.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
  8. ↑ http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228
  9. ↑ Bose-O'Reilly; et al. "Mercury Exposure and Children’s Health". Curr Probl Pediatr Adolesc Health Care. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  10. ↑ U.S. Patent 1,672,615 "Alkyl mercuric sulphur compound and process of producing it".
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Baker JP (2008). "Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism: One Controversy, Three Histories". Am J Public Health 98 (2): 244–53. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.113159. PMC 2376879. PMID 18172138.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Thimerosal in vaccines". Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  13. ↑ "Thimerosal in Vaccines: Frequently Asked Questions". Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  14. ↑ Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases (2007-10-26). "Thimerosal in seasonal influenza vaccine". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  15. ↑ "Mercury in plasma-derived products". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2004-09-09. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
  16. ↑ Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (2006-07-14). "Thiomersal and vaccines". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
  17. ↑ Hamilton, Jon (17 December 2012). "Doctors Argue Against Proposed Ban on Vaccine Preservative". NPR. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  18. ↑ Bryant, Alison (24 January 2013). "U.N. excludes vaccine preservative from mercury treaty". fiercevaccine.com. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  19. ↑ "Safety data sheet, Thiomersal Ph Eur, BP, USP" (PDF). Merck. 2005-06-12. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  20. ↑ Clarkson TW (2002). "The three modern faces of mercury". Environ Health Perspect 110 (S1): 11–23. doi:10.1289/ehp.02110s111. PMC 1241144. PMID 11834460.
  21. 1 2 3 Clarkson TW, Magos L (2006). "The toxicology of mercury and its chemical compounds". Crit Rev Toxicol 36 (8): 609–62. doi:10.1080/10408440600845619. PMID 16973445.
  22. ↑ Clarkson TW, Vyas JB, Ballatori N (2007). "Mechanisms of mercury disposition in the body". Am J Ind Med 50 (10): 757–64. doi:10.1002/ajim.20476. PMID 17477364.
  23. ↑ Dotterud LK, Smith-Sivertsen T (2007). "Allergic contact sensitization in the general adult population: a population-based study from Northern Norway". Contact Dermatitis 56 (1): 10–5. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0536.2007.00980.x. PMID 17177703.
  24. 1 2 Uter W, Ludwig A, Balda BR (2004). "The prevalence of contact allergy differed between population-based and clinic-based data". J Clin Epidemiol 57 (6): 627–32. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2003.04.002. PMID 15246132.
  25. ↑ Aberer W (1991). "Vaccination despite thimerosal sensitivity". Contact Dermatitis 24 (1): 6–10. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0536.1991.tb01621.x. PMID 2044374.
  26. ↑ Thyssen JP, Linneberg A, Menné T, Johansen JD (2007). "The epidemiology of contact allergy in the general population—prevalence and main findings". Contact Dermatitis 57 (5): 287–99. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0536.2007.01220.x. PMID 17937743.
  27. ↑ Czarnobilska E, Obtulowicz K, Dyga W, Spiewak R (2011). "The most important contact sensitizers in Polish children and adolescents with atopy and chronic recurrent eczema as detected with the extended European Baseline Series". Pediatr Allergy Immunol 22 (2): 252–6. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3038.2010.01075.x. PMID 20969635.
  28. ↑ "Thimerosal in vaccines: frequently asked questions (FAQs)". Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  29. ↑ DeStefano F (2007). "Vaccines and autism: evidence does not support a causal association". Clin Pharmacol Ther 82 (6): 756–9. doi:10.1038/sj.clpt.6100407. PMID 17928818.
  30. ↑ Doja A, Roberts W (2006). "Immunizations and autism: a review of the literature". Can J Neurol Sci 33 (4): 341–6. doi:10.1017/s031716710000528x. PMID 17168158.
  31. 1 2 Immunization Safety Review Committee, Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine (2004). Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. ISBN 0-309-09237-X.
  32. ↑ World Health Organization (2006). "Thiomersal and vaccines: questions and answers". Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  33. ↑ Centers for Disease Control (2008-02-08). "Mercury and vaccines (thimerosal)". Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  34. ↑ Sugarman SD (2007). "Cases in vaccine court—legal battles over vaccines and autism". N Engl J Med 357 (13): 1275–7. doi:10.1056/NEJMp078168. PMID 17898095.
  35. ↑ Harris G, O'Connor A (2005-06-25). "On autism's cause, it's parents vs. research". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  36. ↑ Offit PA (2007). "Thimerosal and vaccines—a cautionary tale". N Engl J Med 357 (13): 1278–9. doi:10.1056/NEJMp078187. PMID 17898096.
  37. ↑ Autism cases in vaccine court:
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