Family Profile
The family lives in the state of California in the United States of America. It is a family of four members that includes the mom, dad, and two children. The mom is 35 years old with seasonal allergies, and a healthy diet. Because of her seasonal allergies, she does take an allergy shot and some allergy medications when her allergies become a problem. The dad is 32 years old with no health conditions and eats a healthy diet. Since he has no health conditions, the only medications that he takes is an occasional pain pill for a headache or muscle pain. The dad is in the Army Reserves, so he works out on a regular basis but he does not always have the healthiest of diets.
The first child is a girl who is eight years old. She has the normal diet of most children of only wanting fast food even though her mom tries to get her to have a healthier diet. She is very active because plays soccer and when her dad is at home, they are always outside playing. She does not have any health problems so she is not on any medications. The second child is a baby boy who is five months old. He is just starting to get solid foods so his diet consist of some fruits and vegetables with the cereal and grains. As far as being active, he is just figuring out how to crawl. The baby does not have any health conditions so he is not on any medications.
Exposure to Toxins
The entire family has been exposed to lead. The lead toxicity came from the house that the family just moved into. There are old pipes and old paint that contained lead inside of the house. The family will need to make upgrades to the house so that they are not exposed to the lead toxicity for a long period of time. The longer that the family is exposed, the more serious their health problems could be. This is going to be especially true for the children (Flora, 2004).
Lead Toxicity
Since the family has discovered the lead toxicity so early, the chances that it is going to harm them is very unlikely. But it is very important that the family is aware of some of health effects that they could experience from the exposure to the lead. For the mom, she is probably going to experience some nausea. The dad has only been exposed a little bit to the lead so he might feel weak but that is probably the only thing that he will experience. The children are the ones that are going to see the most effects from the lead toxicity especially the baby. The older child might be more irritable, have a loss of appetite which will be followed by some weight loss, and some vomiting. The baby might have some learning difficulties and slowed growth and even death if he remains exposed to the lead toxicity (No, 2008).
Treatment for Lead Toxicity
One of the most important things that the family can do to limit the amount of the exposure to the lead is to remove themselves from the areas that have the lead. Therefore, the family should remove the paint and pipes that have the lead in them. Plus they will need to watch the children to make sure that they do not put any of the paint chips in their mouth because this amount of exposure would be deadly for the children. There are two main things that can be done to treat the exposure to the lead. The first thing is chelation therapy. This is a medication that will cause the lead to leave the body through a person’s urine. The second thing is EDTA therapy. More than likely, the family will only need one dose of this therapy because they have not been exposed to the lead for a long period of time. Of course, the children are going to need a need smaller doses of the medications than the adults will. Once the family removes the lead from the house, then they should see their symptoms decrease over time (Kacew, 2012).
References:
Flora, S.J. (2004). Pharmacological Perspectives of Toxic Chemicals and Their Antidotes.
Springer Science and Business Media: Berlin, Germany.
Kacew, Sam, and Lee, Byung-Mu. (2012). Lu’s Basic Toxicology: Fundamentals, Target
Organs, and Risk Assessment. 6th Edition. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL.
No Author. (2008). Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare. Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Borden Institute: Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
