Frequent soldering can cause occupational lead poisoning is usually chronic, the clinical indicators of lead poisoning is mainly urinary lead more than 0.08 mg / l, blood lead more than 50 μg / t, occupational history and clinical symptoms are the basis for diagnosis.
Occupational lead poisoning clinically has a combination of neurological, digestive, hematologic and other systemic symptoms.
1. Nervous system
The main manifestations are neurasthenia, polyneuropathy and encephalopathy.
Neurasthenia is one of the early and more common symptoms of lead poisoning, which is characterized by dizziness, headache, generalized weakness, memory loss, sleep disorders, dreams, etc., among which dizziness and generalized weakness are the most obvious, but they are generally mild and are functional symptoms. There are still a lot of early lead poisoning, the above symptoms are not obvious.
Polyneuropathy can be categorized into sensory, motor and mixed types. Sensory manifestations of numbness of the extremities and the ends of the limbs were glove sock type sensory impairment; motor manifestations are: muscle weakness, first of all, grip weakness appeared earlier, but also more common, and further development of muscle weakness, mostly extensor weakness; muscle paralysis, also known as lead paralysis, most commonly seen in the radial nerve innervated fingers and wrist extensor muscles were wrist ptosis, also known as carpal tunnel syndrome; peroneus brevis muscle, the total extensor toes, extensor digitorum profundus muscle joints were foot ptosis, also known as drop foot syndrome. The foot is also known as ptosis.
Encephalopathy is the most serious form of lead poisoning; it is characterized by headache, nausea, vomiting, high fever, irritability, convulsions, lethargy, mental disorders, coma and other symptoms, similar to epileptic seizures, meningitis, cerebral edema, psychosis, or localized brain damage and other syndromes. Domestic due to improved labor conditions, less frequent.
2. Digestive system
Mild cases show general gastrointestinal symptoms, while severe cases show abdominal colic. Digestive symptoms include metallic taste in the mouth, loss of appetite, distension and discomfort in the epigastrium, abdominal pain and constipation, dry stools in the form of abacus beads, and intractable constipation as a precursor before the onset of lead colic. Abdominal colic is a sudden onset, mostly around the umbilicus, with persistent pain, aggravated by paroxysms, and each attack lasts from a few minutes to a few hours. The pain is so severe and intolerable that the patient often bends over, tosses and turns, and presses his hands on the abdomen to relieve the pain. At the same time, the color of the face is pale, the whole body has cold sweat, and there may be vomiting. On examination, the abdomen is flat and soft, with mild tenderness, no fixed pressure points, decreased bowel sounds, and often accompanied by temporary elevation of blood pressure and arterial spasm in the fundus.
3. Hematology
Mainly, lead interferes with the process of hemoglobin synthesis and causes changes in its metabolites, such as decreased blood δ-ALAD activity, increased urinary δ-ALA, increased urinary CP, increased blood FEP, ZPP, etc., and finally leads to anemia, mostly hypochromic normocytic anemia.
4. Other systems
Lead damage to the kidneys is mostly seen in acute and subacute lead poisoning or in more severe chronic cases, with amino acid proteinuria, erythrocytes, leukocytes and tubular pattern and renal hypoplasia suggestive of toxic nephropathy with hypertension. Female workers are more sensitive to lead, especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding, which can cause infertility, miscarriage, preterm labor, stillbirth and infant lead poisoning. For male workers, it can cause reduction of sperm count, weakening of activity and change of morphology. In addition, it can also cause hypothyroidism.
Preventive measures for occupational lead poisoning;
1. Engineering and technical measures should be adopted to eliminate and mitigate the hazards as early as possible, and prevent and control the hazards of occupational lead poisoning, focusing on the following aspects.
(1) The operation of dust, toxic vapors or gases is carried out under airtight conditions, supplemented by local suction, and local exhaust hoods can be used to control the diffusion of occupational lead hazardous factors when there are thermotoxic gases occurring;
(2) Distant operation and automation are adopted, supplemented by personal protective equipment to prevent direct contact.
2. Control of occupational lead hazardous factors
Occupational lead hazardous factors is one of the decisive prerequisites to cause occupational diseases, the most important of which are the exposure and the intensity of the effect (dosage), and the main factor determining the exposure is the exposure time. Therefore, when protecting the health of the occupational population, the conditions of action should also be considered, and the control of occupational lead hazardous factors should be achieved by improving environmental measures and strictly enforcing health standards.
3. Control of human factors
In order to prevent the hazards of occupational lead hazardous factors to the exposed persons, the focus should be on strengthening the first and second level of prevention so that the affected persons can be detected at an early stage.
(1) Enhancement of health monitoring.
The basic contents of health supervision include health examination, health supervision file establishment, health condition analysis and labor capacity appraisal.
Health examinations include pre-employment health examinations and regular health examinations.
Pre-employment health examination refers to the health examination for those who are going to be engaged in a certain kind of operation, the purpose of which is to understand the original health condition of the examinee and various basic data, and to find out the occupational contraindications. To commit blood disease, anemia, neurological organic disease, liver, kidney organic disease patients, can not be engaged in lead industry jobs.
Periodic health examination refers to the routine health examination of occupational lead hazardous work at certain time intervals, aiming at the timely detection of suspicious signs of occupational diseases and the detection of high-risk groups as the key guardianship objects, taking preventive measures to protect other workers.
Health monitoring files mainly include:
(1) Strengthening personal protection.
Personal protective gear, including respiratory protective gear (masks and face shields for dust and poison prevention), face shields (anti-ultraviolet rays), protective clothing (acid, alkali, high temperature), gloves (anti-vibration), shoes, etc., should be selected according to the hazardous exposure.
(2) Consume health care meals.
In order to enhance the body's resistance, to protect the target tissues and target organs affected by occupational hazards, according to the nature and characteristics of exposure to occupational lead hazardous factors, appropriate supplementation of some of the special needs of the nutrients. There are many ingredients in food that have the effect of chelating lead and resisting lead damage. Alfalfa is rich in vitamins, minerals and other useful nutrients and has a detoxifying effect on the body. Adults can try aloe vera juice, half a cup in the morning and half a cup before bedtime softens bowel movements and assists in removing the metal from the digestive tract. In addition, supplement with lecithin granules or capsules, selenium and glutathione. Iron, zinc, copper, selenium and germanium are all known to reject lead toxicity. These nutrients are abundant in fruits and vegetables such as prickly pear, sea buckthorn, kiwi, kelp, onions and garlic.