LEAD POISONING IN CHILDREN

Abstract

In 1926, there was published from this clinic (the Infants' and Children's Hospital) a report of a series of cases of lead poisoning in children, with a review of the literature and a discussion of the diagnosis and treatment with special reference to the encephalitic types of lead intoxication.¹Since that time, cases of lead poisoning in infants and children have been encountered with increasing frequency; knowledge of the organic and functional changes produced by the metal has increased, and a number of clinical features have been observed that were not presented in the earlier paper. Lead poisoning is seen occasionally in infants and children from the prolonged use of lead nipple shields²or from the ingestion of water containing lead; also lead is reported to have been obtained from face powder containing lead used by the child's mother;³however, the most common cause of the ingestion