Case study introduction to clinical applications Questions and Answers

Case study introduction to clinical applications Questions and Answers What is the etiology of the mental and physiological signs shown by these patients? The etiology of the signs shown by the patients was exposure to paint that contained lead. What risk factors for lead poisoning can you identify in this case study? Playing and collecting scrap metal in an older factory building with lead paint. Chewing on lead foil due to an iron-deficiency. Is lead a toxin? no. Do any of the people in this story exhibit idiopathic lead poisoning? Also explain why or why not any of the people in this story exhibit idiopathic lead poisoning. No, for every patient there was a cause of poisoning that was clearly identified. For the children, samples were taken where they collected scrap metal and were confirmed to contain leaded paint. The adults that interacted with the children were not ill and consequently did not spend time around the leaded paint. For the elderly woman with pica, it was found that she had a habit of chewing on lead foil. Would you consider lead poisoning a syndrome? Also explain why or why not you would consider lead poisoning a syndrome. Yes, lead poisoning would be considered a syndrome. After exposure to the leaded paint, the children exhibited both signs and symptoms of the degeneration due to having lead in their system. At what point in this case does histopathology become relevant? Histopathology becomes relevant when looking at the reduced red blood cell count (RBC) in the children with lead poisoning. Based on the information presented, does the lead poisoning in this community show a high morbidity? A high mortality? A high prevalence? A high incidence? For each underlined term, answer yes or no, or state that there is insufficient information on which to base an opinion. Also explain for each underlined term why you answered yes, no, or insufficient information. In this community, over half of the children exhibited symptoms of lead poisoning, so it does have a high morbidity rate. There was no death rate associated with the poisoning so there is not a high mortality. Among the children there is a high prevalence of poisoning as over 70 of the 112 showed symptoms. There is low incidence of lead poisoning in this community as there is not a high number of new cases over time. Would you consider the lead poisoning in this case an epidemic? Would you consider it an infectious disease? For each question, please answer yes or no and why you would or would not consider the lead poisoning in this case either an epidemic or an infectious disease. No, the lead poisoning is not an epidemic. This case study shows high prevalence and low incidence. An epidemic has both high incidence and low prevalence. No, the lead poisoning is not an infectious disease as it is not transmitted from person to person by an infectious disease agent. joint pain Symptom Difficulty walking Symptom Excessive salivation sign Personality changes sign Low RBC count sign subnormal intelligence sign Dimness of vision Symptom Lead in the urine Sign The elderly woman with pica lives with her daughter's family. Her daughter says she can't get her mother to stop chewing the foil from the wine bottles, and the mother says she likes the metallic feel on her teeth. If you were the physician, what might you suggest to control her lead poisoning? Offer her some iron supplements or suggest iron rich diet to combat her pica. Get treated for iron-deficiency anemia. Prevelance the number of cases of a disease in a specific population at a particular timepoint or over a specified period of time. Incidence the rate of new cases of a disease occurring in a specific population over a particular period of time. At the other end of the spectrum is a very short-lived condition with high mortality, such as Ebola. The number of cases of Ebola increased massively during the epidemic, making the incidence extremely high. However, once it reached its peak the prevalence remained pretty constant as people died of the condition at approximately the same rate it was diagnosed, as the mortality was so high. the number of people that are diagnosed with asthma every year is quite static over time. It has a genetic component, is not being affected hugely by lifestyle or other factors and the rate of cases does not particularly change. This means that the incidence of the disease stays fairly constant.