RESUMO
An emergency environmental health investigation of a mass poisoning of unknown origin is a multidiscipline effort that requires the cooperation and close communication of epidemiologists, toxicologists, and chemists. The laboratory's role in this effort is important; special instruments, knowledge, and experience are needed. Our approach to such an investigation is discussed and past cases are used as illustrations. The role of the analytical chemist is presented, and the major resources needed for these investigations are described.
Assuntos
Técnicas de Química Analítica/métodos , Surtos de Doenças , Endrin/intoxicação , Inseticidas/intoxicação , Metomil/intoxicação , Animais , Cães , Endrin/análise , Métodos Epidemiológicos , Contaminação de Alimentos , Humanos , Jamaica , Masculino , Metomil/análise , PaquistãoRESUMO
Three fatalities from the accidental ingestion of methomyl, a carbamate pesticide, are reported. The methomyl had been stored in an unlabeled tin can and was accidentally used in preparing "roti," an Indian dish. The identification of the source of the poison through animal tests and further chemical identification is described. The lethal dose of methomyl was estimated to have been between 12 and 15 mg/kg body weight.
Assuntos
Pão/intoxicação , Inseticidas/intoxicação , Metomil/intoxicação , Acidentes , Autopsia , Pão/análise , Humanos , Jamaica , Masculino , Metomil/análise , ToxicologiaRESUMO
In January 1976, 79 persons in Jamaica were acutely poisoned by the organophosphorus insecticide parathion. Seventeen died. Cases occurred in three episodes at separate locations, but all patients had consumed wheat flour from a single lot consisting of 5264 cotton bags. Parathion in concentrations of less than 1 to 9900 ppm was identified in flour from six bags in this lot; three had splash marks. The flour had been milled in Western Europe from European wheat, carried in trucks to a dockside warehouse, and loaded aboard ship after 2-5 days' storage. In Jamaica, the flour had moved from quayside to outbreak locations along separate routes through two import houses. Site inspections and review of shipping records suggested that the likely point of contamination was the European port, where foodstuffs and insecticides were stored in the same warehouse.