Prevention of lead poisoning in infants and children, do not blindly use drugs

  Lead poisoning affects the nutritional absorption and brain development of infants and children. Blood lead over 100ug/l is considered as lead concentration over the limit, and over 200ug/l is considered as lead poisoning and needs to be treated at the Lead Detoxification Center of Children’s Hospital. More than 20ug/l needs parents’ attention to prevent further increase of blood lead. Preventive measures for parents are as follows: 1. Wash hands regularly to prevent contaminants from entering the mouth. Girls should not wear nail polish and makeup.  2. Do not take children to play on the roadside to prevent lead poisoning caused by dust and car exhaust.  3. Do not smoke to children, the coal tar in the smoke can lead to lead poisoning.  4. Do not eat puffed food, such as popcorn, puffed eggs, snow cakes, shrimp fries and other fried foods.  5. Eating more fruits is good for lead excretion: such as kiwi, orange, grape, strawberry, etc.  Retest blood lead in 3-6 months to monitor children’s blood lead level. Wash your hands with soap before the examination.  When you find that your child’s blood lead level is over the limit, don’t blindly give your child medicine, the diagnosis of lead poisoning can only be really accurate after blood lead test, not all lead poisoning needs to be detoxified with medicine, for mild poisoning patients, cutting off the source of lead, changing the living environment and correcting the bad habits can prevent lead poisoning well and stop the critical symptoms. Lead repellent medication is a complexing agent, which will remove lead from the body with some other beneficial elements without selection. Blindly giving lead repellent treatment to children will not be beneficial but harmful to their health. Therefore, first of all, we should look for the causes of elevated blood lead in children, such as whether there are sources of lead pollution in the surrounding environment where children live and study, whether children have bad hygiene habits, whether there are abnormalities in their diet and living habits, etc. As long as the surrounding environment of children is improved and bad hygiene and diet habits are corrected, the lead level in children’s body will be reduced slowly.  When children’s blood lead exceeds the standard and needs to be treated with lead expulsion, in principle, non-pharmaceutical lead expulsion is used as much as possible. For patients with symptomatic severe lead poisoning, drug treatment must be carried out under the guidance and monitoring of doctors. The treatment of lead poisoning should focus on timely reduction of blood lead. Blood lead should be lowered so that lead does not enter the brain and bones. It should also stop the absorption of lead by the respiratory and digestive tract mucous membranes, and promptly convert the inhaled lead into a form that cannot be absorbed by the digestive tract and excreted by the feces. The combination of Chinese herbal medicine and evidence-based treatment has been applied to clinical treatment of lead, which can effectively reduce blood lead and prevent the occurrence of lead poisoning in children. In addition, children should supplement calcium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper and other divalent cations in time to resist the intake of divalent metal ion lead.  When blood lead exceeds the standard, children should eat more foods with lead detoxification function. The best way to detoxify lead is to prevent lead from being absorbed in the digestive tract through the intake of nutrients and dietary fiber, and to supplement nutrients. Dietary fiber can be excreted directly through feces without toxic side effects. Meanwhile, by supplementing vitamins A, C, D and plant pectin, the effect of lead detoxification and lead suppression can also be achieved. Many daily foods have the function of lead detoxification, and in order of lead detoxification effect, they are sea cucumber, kelp, jellyfish, nori, wheat skin, oolong tea, prickly pear, kiwi, stinky tofu, black dates, etc.  Cultivate children to develop good habits of washing hands regularly, especially before eating; always cut children’s nails, because the nail crevices are especially easy to hide lead dust; often mop the floor with a wet mop, wipe the table and windowsill with a wet rag; add covers to the nipples of food and bottles; often wash children’s toys and other items that may be put into the child’s mouth; located near the roads with heavy traffic or lead work Families located near industrial areas, parents should often use a damp cloth to wipe away the dust from the parts that children can reach; do not take children to play on roads with high traffic flow and near lead factories; workers directly engaged in lead work must shower and change clothes before going home; families using coal as fuel should try to open more windows for ventilation; children should eat less of certain foods with high lead content, such as puffed eggs, popcorn etc.