
Written by Dr. Chetan Ginigeri
Nowadays, there are a plethora of health issues that need solutions, especially in children. A child’s health is one of the most crucial things to prioritize before anything else. The problem of lead poisoning is a severe health issue in children and must be handled in the right way. It’s imperative to find out whether your child is at risk of overexposure to lead as the chances are more than you assume.
Lead is a toxic substance that is used in everything around us. From the wall paints to toys, from food additives to batteries, most of our daily exposed things have a small quantity of lead present in it. Exposure to a high amount of lead for short duration (acute toxicity) and getting exposed to lower lead levels for a longer period of time (chronic Toxicity) are equally harmful and can cause long-lasting health issues in younger children.
In this article, we shall be covering some of the crucial factors that cause lead poisoning in children, along with some remedies that will be beneficial to protect your children from this hazardous disease in the best way.
Once you get into the body, this metal gets themselves distributed among various types of cells just like other essential minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, etc. where ever leads ends up, it will hinder that cell activity. It will hinder calcium absorption of bone cells, production of RBC, etc.
Lead toxicity leads to various harmful effects on everyone. However, unborn babies and young children are at greatest risk for health problems from lead poisoning. It can bring about not only physical problems but mental issues as well.
Babies mostly have a habit of exploring things while putting them in their mouths. Also, they can contract lead toxicity through lead-contaminated specks of dust from construction sites, paints, etc. A small amount of lead is present in all the things which start to accumulate in the body of your little ones. To know the sources of lead poisoning in your child, keep on reading the article further.
It is well known that children are more prone to diseases than adults due to low immunity and strength. Moreover, lead is more rapidly absorbed by the intestine of babies when compared to the adult. One in their system, eliminating, is not possible, and it will start to accumulate, leading to lead poisoning. Even five micrograms per deciliter of lead in the body of the baby may cause a high level of toxicity. Other than that, their bad habit of putting everything in the mouth and licking the walls affects them highly with lead toxicity.
Here are some of the sources of lead exposure in small babies:
Unfortunately, signs and symptoms of lead poisoning will not appear until its level become dangerously high in your child’s body. Kindly diagnose your child if you find the following symptoms of lead toxicity in him:
Not all children show the same symptoms during lead poisoning. In the beginning, it becomes very difficult to detect lead poisoning by the parents. But you can detect lead poisoning in your child by a blood test that will denote the amount of lead present in his body.
Here are some of the long term effects of lead poisoning in children:
As known, prevention is always better than cure. Here are some preventive measures you can opt to protect your child from lead toxicity:
Home is the place where we live, so it becomes very important to test your home from time to time to protect your children with lead poisoning. Here are some measures by which you can check your home for lead toxicity:
Once you begin following all the right ways of protecting your child, you will surely be able to decrease the effects of lead poisoning with little efforts only. Also, make sure you follow all the doctor’s suggestions in the best way to cure it of the roots.
Dr Chetan Ginigeri is an experienced Pediatric Intensivist with national and international training. With 15 years of experience, he is one among very few Intensivists in India trained to take care of children who need/had organ transplants. He has been responsible for coordinating the Pediatric Organ Transplant program.Read more.
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