EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF LEAD POISONING IN CHILDREN

Abstract

Twenty-one cases of lead poisoning in children were uncovered in Chicago during 1953. Five of these cases were fatal. Since this is not a reportable disease, we have no data on the true incidence of this disease in previous years. Nevertheless, it was the consensus that the discovery of this number of cases in one year was unusual. Equally remarkable was the fact that over half of these cases were recognized at one hospital. Because central nervous system aberrations were characteristic of many of these cases of lead poisoning in children, the possibility of an epidemic of viral encephalitis was entertained initially. It was for this reason that aid was sought from the Communicable Disease Center of the United States Public Health Service. Although the epidemic, if indeed it be considered one, proved not to result from a communicable disease, the epidemiological approach found so helpful in studying such diseases