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TABLE III. (Cont'd.) Cases of specified notifiable diseases, United States, weeks ending November 10, 1984 and November 12, 1983 (45th Week)

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⚫ Mortality data in this table are voluntarily reported from 121 cities in the United States, most of which have populations of 100,000 or more A death is reported by the place of its occurrence and by the week that the death certificate was filed Fetal deaths are not included

Pneumonia and influenza

↑ Because of changes in reporting methods in these 4 Pennsylvania cities, these numbers are partial counts for the current week Complete counts will be available in 4 to 6 weeks

tt Total includes unknown ages

Data not available Figures are estimates based on average of past 4 weeks.

TABLE V. Years of potential life lost, deaths, and death rates, by cause of death, and estimated number of physician contacts, by principal diagnosis, United States

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*For details of calculation, see footnotes for Table V, MMWR 1984,33:2.

*Years of potential life lost for persons between 1 year and 65 years old at the time of death are derived from the number of deaths in each age category as reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, Monthly Vital Statistics Report (MVSR), Vol. 31, No 13, October 5, 1983.

National Center for Health Statistics, Monthly Vital Statistics Report (MVSR), Vol. 33, No. 7, October 22, 1984, pp. 8-9.

IMS America National Disease and Therapeutic Index (NDTI), Monthly Report, June 1984, Section III. **MVSR Vol 33, No. 6, September 20, 1984, p. 1.

Lead Poisoning - Continued

normally until he was 8 months old. In December 1983, he became lethargic and less responsive and stopped crawling. Within a few weeks, the behavioral abnormalities worsened, and he refused bottle-feeding, and began to have tremors. On January 5, 1984, the infant was examined by a physician for an ear infection, and the behavioral changes were noted. On January 9, the infant had seizures at his home and was taken to the hospital emergency room. During a lumbar puncture, he became apneic and was transferred to another hospital. The lumbar puncture ruled out meningitis as the cause of his neurologic signs. A computerized tomography scan suggested a midline cerebellar mass with enlargements of the third and lateral ventricles in the brain. On January 10, he underwent an operation for decompression of

Lead Poisoning - Continued

the posterior fossa. During the operation, apparent necrotic tissue was excised from the cerebellum. The infant died the next day.

Postmortem examination revealed severe lead poisoning as the underlying cause of death. High concentrations of lead were found in the blood, urine, liver, and kidneys (Table 4). Lead lines were seen in radiographs of the long bones.

The source of lead could not be identified in the house or environment on examination. However, the parents disclosed that they had regularly given the baby folk remedies from India since he was 2 months old. The parents provided samples of three folk remedies for analysis by the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. All three contained lead (Table 5). The highest concentration (1.6%) was in ghasard, a brown powder given once daily as a tonic.

Reported by ML Colgrove, M Zinion, Nursing Dept, JM Atkinson, MD, Lake County Public Health Unit, Tavares, T Collins, MD, District 3, Gainesville, L Maslund, MW Clark, MD, WF Hamilton, MD, Office of the Medical Examiner, District 8, Gainesville, NP Chopra, MD, Lake County, CL Bush, Office of Laboratory Svcs, JJ Witte, MD, JJ Sacks, MD, Acting State Epidemiologist, Florida Dept of Health and Rehabilitative Svcs; Div of Field Svcs, Epidemiology Program Office, Special Studies Br, Chronic Diseases Div, Center for Environmental Health, CDC.

Editorial Note: Lead poisoning should be suspected in every infant and child with developmental problems, behavioral abnormalities, or neurologic symptoms. Signs of acute lead encephalopathy include coma, seizures, bizarre behavior, ataxia, apathy, incoordination, vomiting, alteration in consciousness, and subtle loss of recently acquired skills (1). Lead encephalopathy is a medical emergency and requires prompt diagnosis and treatment. One or more of the above signs and a blood-lead concentration of 70 μg/dl or higher are sufficient for diagnosis. Lumbar puncture is usually not required for diagnosis of acute lead encephalopathy and may pose a risk to the patient when intracranial pressure is elevated. Treatment consists of chelation with 2,3-dimercaptopropanol (BAL-British anti-lewisite) and edathamil calcium disodium (CaNa2-EDTA) (1).

At blood-lead concentrations of 50 μg/dl or higher, lead poisoning can produce the following symptoms: decreased play activity, lethargy, anorexia, sporadic vomiting, intermittent abdominal pain, and constipation. Children with lead poisoning should be treated on an emergency basis, since they may develop acute encephalopathy (1).

Lead-containing folk remedies have been reported as the cause of lead poisoning in Mexican-Hispanic and Hmong children (2-4). This report of lead-containing folk remedies from India raises the concern that lead may be present in folk remedies from other parts of the world. Hmong folk remedies have also been found to contain arsenic and mercury (4), and they have been suspected of causing arsenic poisoning in several adults (5). Other heavy metals, therefore, may also be present in some Indian folk remedies.

Health-care providers need to be sensitive to the cultural beliefs and practices of ethnic groups. In their native countries, these groups may have used traditional foods and remedies.

TABLE 4. Laboratory findings of lead poisoning at postmortem examination

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Lead Poisoning - Continued

Parents often give these substances to their infants and children to help their growth and development or to treat them for minor illnesses. Often, the parents acquire the substances from relatives and friends, and they do not suspect the substances may be harmful. If symptoms persist, they may give even larger amounts, inadvertently causing further illness.

Testing for lead toxicity can be done simply and relatively inexpensively by determining blood concentrations of lead and erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP). Determining the EP level is a good screening test for lead exposure, since an elevated EP level usually indicates iron deficiency or lead toxicity (6). If lead poisoning is suspected, however, both EP and blood-lead levels should be determined without delay.

Lead poisoning can be prevented by removing the child from exposure to lead. In the United States, the most common source of lead that causes symptomatic poisoning is deteriorating lead-based paint in older houses. Other potential sources-including occupations and hobbies that result in exposure to lead; food stored in imported, glazed pottery; and folk remedies - should also be investigated. It is very important that the source or sources of lead be identified and removed from the child's environment.

Based on recommendations by CDC's Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention, CDC is revising the guidelines for lead screening in young children. The new guidelines recommend EP screening of all children between 9 months and 6 years of age. A child with an EP level of 35 μg/dl or higher should have a repeat EP test, a blood-lead test, and a hematocrit or hemoglobin test. Lead toxicity - defined as a blood-lead level of 25 μg/dl or higher, along with an EP level of 35 μg/dl or higher-requires further medical evaluation and environmental investigation to identify the source(s) of lead. These new guidelines will be distributed in the form of a CDC statement to health departments and health-care providers. More details will be included in a future issue of MMWR.

References

1. Piomelli S, Rosen JF, Chisolm JC, Graef JJ, Jr. Management of childhood lead poisoning. J Pediatr 1984,105:523-32.

2. CDC Use of lead tetroxide as a folk remedy for gastrointestinal illness. MMWR 1981;30:546-7. 3. CDC. Lead poisoning from lead tetroxide used as a folk remedy-Colorado. MMWR 1982;30:647-8. 4. CDC. Folk remedy-associated lead poisoning in Hmong children-Minnesota. MMWR 1983;32: 555-6

5 CDC. Nonfatal arsenic poisoning in three Hmong patients-Minnesota. MMWR 1984;33:347-9. 6. CDC Preventing lead poisoning in young children: a statement by the Center for Disease Control. Atlanta, Georgia: Center for Disease Control, 1978.

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