
Concerns for low levels of exposure began in the 1970s with there being no safe threshold for lead exposure. Descriptions of lead poisoning date to at least 2000 BC, while efforts to limit lead's use date back to at least the 16th century. People have been mining and using lead for thousands of years. According to a study, half of the US population has been exposed to substantially detrimental lead levels in early childhood – mainly from car exhaust whose lead pollution peaked in the 1970s and caused widespread loss in cognitive ability. Lead is believed to result in 0.6% of the world's disease burden. There also are numerous cases in the developed world, with there being thousands of American communities with higher lead burdens than seen during the peak of the Flint water crisis. It occurs most commonly in the developing world. In 2013, lead is believed to have resulted in 853,000 deaths worldwide. Medications used include dimercaprol, edetate calcium disodium, and succimer. Chelation therapy in children is recommended when blood levels are greater than 40–45 µg/dl.

The major treatments are removal of the source of lead and the use of medications that bind lead so it can be eliminated from the body, known as chelation therapy. Workers' education could be helpful as well. This includes individual efforts such as removing lead-containing items from the home, workplace efforts such as improved ventilation and monitoring, state and national policies that ban lead in products such as paint, gasoline, ammunition, wheel weights, and fishing weights, reduce allowable levels in water or soil, and provide for cleanup of contaminated soil. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US) has set the upper limit for blood lead for adults at 10 µg/dl (10 µg/100 g) and for children at 3.5 µg/dl, previously before October 2021 5 µg/dl Elevated lead may also be detected by changes in red blood cells or dense lines in the bones of children as seen on X-ray. Diagnosis is typically by measurement of the blood lead level. Exposure at work is a common cause of lead poisoning in adults with certain occupations at particular risk. The amount of lead that can be absorbed by children is also higher than that of adults. Lead poisoning poses a significantly increased risk to children as they are far more likely to ingest lead indirectly by chewing on toys or other objects that are coated in lead paint. Įxposure to lead can occur by contaminated air, water, dust, food, or consumer products.

In severe cases, anemia, seizures, coma, or death may occur. It causes almost 10% of intellectual disability of otherwise unknown cause and can result in behavioral problems. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, infertility, and tingling in the hands and feet. Lead poisoning, also known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body. Removing lead from the home, improved monitoring and education in the workplace, laws that ban lead in products ĭimercaprol, edetate calcium disodium, succimer Iron deficiency anemia, malabsorption, anxiety disorder, polyneuropathy Intellectual disability, abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, inability to have children, tingling in the hands and feet Įxposure to lead via contaminated air, water, dust, food, consumer products

Plumbism, colica pictorum, saturnism, Devon colic, painter's colicĪn X-ray demonstrating the characteristic finding of lead poisoning in humans-dense metaphyseal lines
