Lead poisoning

[Tina]

Some causes of lead poisoning are ingesting lead paint and eating or drinking from certain imported, improperly lead-glazed ceramics.
Very high levels of lead in the blood may cause personality changes, headaches, loss of sensation, weakness, a metallic taste in the mouth, uncoordinated walking, digestive problems, and anemia.
The diagnosis is based on symptoms and a blood test.
Testing household water, ceramics, and paint for lead can help identify potential sources of lead poisoning.
Treatment consists of stopping exposure to lead and removing accumulated lead from the body.

(See also Overview of Poisoning.)
Lead poisoning is far less common since paint containing lead pigment was banned (in 1978 in the United States) and lead was eliminated from automotive gasoline (in 1986 in the United States and by 2011 in all but 6 countries in the developing world). However, lead poisoning is still a major public health problem in cities on the East Coast of the United States as well as in other isolated cities.

[Couch Potatoe]

Lead poisoning often causes minimal symptoms at first but can cause acute encephalopathy or irreversible organ damage, commonly resulting in cognitive deficits in children. Diagnosis is by whole blood lead level. Treatment involves stopping lead exposure and sometimes using chelation therapy with succimer or edetate calcium disodium , with or without dimercaprol .
(See also General Principles of Poisoning.)
There is no blood lead level that does not have deleterious effects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that children with blood lead levels gt; 5 mcg/dL (0.24 micromol/L) must have remediation, retesting, and serial monitoring as well as assessment for vitamin deficiency and general nutritional status.

[exinilu]

an illness that happens when lead is absorbed by the body: