Case Study:
In a neighborhood within 3-5 miles of a former garbage dump and plastics and battery recycling plant site that have been shut down for just over a year, 56 children have become unexpectedly ill all exhibiting the same or similar overlapping symptoms. The symptoms include moderate to severe headaches, acute abdominal pain, low red blood cell counts, and in some patients, severe cases have exhibited seizures and kidney failure. Upon looking into the patient backgrounds of children of age to attend elementary school or higher, it was found that these children over the last 3-5 month period have been uncharacteristically irritable in school and at home and have had significant drops in their grades in school. More than half of the parents report their children have been acting more clutzy or uncoordinated during this last 3-5 month window. All 56 patients were from that same neighborhood, living in households with well water provided by simple ground water in houses that range from anywhere between 6-48 years old. The households shop at various supermarkets in the area and are made up of a variety of demographics (17% Hispanic, 36% White, 28% African American, 19% other/not specified). The adults in these households have suffered from occasional mild headaches during the last 3-5 months, but display no consistent moderate to severe symptomology. Since you are the head of the hospital unit dealing with these patients, it is up to you to make the proper diagnosis and begin treatments (if there are appropriate treatments to administer).
Answer the following question:
1) What could the contaminant/toxicant/pollutant be? In one paragraph use supporting evidence from the case study to back up your diagnosis.
Children who were staying within 3-5 miles of a former garbage dump and plastics and battery recycling plant site, which was closed for just over a year now,have become unexpectedly ill,and started showing same and similar overlapping symptoms.
The suffering children were of elementary and higher school age.All these children's were uncharacteristically irritable since last 3-5months and had the significant drops in their grades in school.
The neighborhood within that 3-5miles were supplied with well water provided by simple ground water.
Even the adults in that neighborhood have also shown similar Symptoms.
The symptoms include:-
Lead is the contaminant/toxicant/pollutant. It is due to the Lead poisoing, that all 56 children were showing similar overlapping symptoms.
All these 56 children were staying within 3-5miles of former garbage dump,plastic and battery recycling plant,which was closed almost a year ago.
Lead is a toxic chemical which is used or recycled in these plastic and battery recycling plants.The ingestion of lead contaminated dust,water and food causes lead poisoning.
In body, lead is distributed to brain,kidney liver and bones thereby affecting its normal functioning.It also gets stored in the teeth and bones,where it gets accumulated overtime.
Young children's are more vulnerable to toxic effects of lead,and can suffer from adverse health effects.Lead poisoning mainly affects the development of brain and nervous system.
Lead poisoning also causes long term health problems in adults.
Symtoms of Lead poisoing:
In young children
In Adults:
Here all the children and adults are showing Symptoms of lead poisoning along with a history of exposure to the pollutant due the presence of plastic and battery recycling plant in neighbourhood.
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