IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v12y2015i7p7804-7813d52370.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Retrospective Investigation of a Lead Poisoning Outbreak from the Consumption of an Ayurvedic Medicine: Durban, South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Angela Mathee

    (Environment & Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council, P.O. Box 87373, Houghton 2041, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
    Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 17011, Doornfontein 2018, Gauteng, South Africa
    School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown 2193, Johannesburg, South Africa)

  • Nisha Naicker

    (Environment & Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council, P.O. Box 87373, Houghton 2041, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
    School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown 2193, Johannesburg, South Africa)

  • June Teare

    (Environment & Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council, P.O. Box 87373, Houghton 2041, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa)

Abstract

Ayurvedic medicines have been gaining in popularity around the world in recent decades, but have also been associated with lead contamination and poisoning. In 2012 in Durban, South Africa, a lead poisoning outbreak among adolescents was associated with the consumption of an Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of skin conditions. In 2014 eight individuals (out of 12 affected) were traced and interviewed. Questionnaires were administered; blood samples were taken for lead content analysis; and medical records were reviewed. Samples of the implicated medicines were analyzed to determine lead levels. Blood lead levels during the acute phase ranged from 34 to 116 µg/dL; and during the current study (two years later) from 13 to 34 µg/dL. The implicated lead capsules had a lead content of 125,235 µg/g. Participants suffered a wide range of non-specific ill health symptoms; and there was a significant delay in the diagnosis of lead poisoning. This study highlights the potential for lead poisoning outbreaks from the consumption of Ayurvedic medicines in African settings. There were weaknesses with regard to the diagnosis of and response to the outbreak, for which measures need to be put in place to ensure greater awareness of the role of Ayurvedic medicine in lead poisoning, and prompt diagnosis and treatment of future cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Angela Mathee & Nisha Naicker & June Teare, 2015. "Retrospective Investigation of a Lead Poisoning Outbreak from the Consumption of an Ayurvedic Medicine: Durban, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-10, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:7:p:7804-7813:d:52370
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/7/7804/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/7/7804/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tanya Haman & Angela Mathee & Andre Swart, 2015. "Low Levels of Awareness of Lead Hazards among Pregnant Women in a High Risk—Johannesburg Neighbourhood," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-6, November.
    2. Howard W. Mielke, 2016. "Editorial: Lead Risk Assessment and Health Effects," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-3, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:7:p:7804-7813:d:52370. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.