Occupational lead poisoning

Lead, a ubiquitous heavy metal, has been found in places as unlikely as Greenland’s fossil ice. Egyptians and Hebrews used it. In Spain, Phoenicians c. 2000 BC worked ores of lead. At the end of the XX century, occupational lead’s poisoning became a public health problem in developed countries. In n...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Ramírez, Augusto V
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2005
País:Perú
Institución:Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
Repositorio:Revistas - Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:revistasinvestigacion.unmsm.edu.pe:article/1352
Acceso en línea:https://revistasinvestigacion.unmsm.edu.pe/index.php/anales/article/view/1352
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Plomo
envenenamiento por plomo
exposición ocupacional
exposición a riesgos ambientales.
Lead
lead poisoning
occupational exposure
enviromental exposure .
Descripción
Sumario:Lead, a ubiquitous heavy metal, has been found in places as unlikely as Greenland’s fossil ice. Egyptians and Hebrews used it. In Spain, Phoenicians c. 2000 BC worked ores of lead. At the end of the XX century, occupational lead’s poisoning became a public health problem in developed countries. In non-developed countries occupational lead poisoning is still frequent. Diagnosis is directed to recognize lead existence at the labor environment and good clinical and occupational documentation. Differential diagnosis considers neurological and abdominal pain syndromes. Both blood lead and zinc-protoporphyrin levels are trustworthy and crucial analysis. In exposed workers, blood-lead can attain 40 ug/100 mL and even 80 ug/100 mL in unhealthy industries workers and zincprotoporphyrin is above 4 ug/g of hemoglobin. Treatment consists mainly in calcium disodium edetate, d-penicillamid lead’s quelantes, or the new di-mercapto succinic acid and 2-3 di-mercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid that have improved the therapeutic options, are less toxic and easier to manage. We highlight lead’s problem as a high-priority problem in public and occupational health, as well as a serious ecological problem.