ECL Yu

Abstract

Lead poisoning is seen as a past disease. The difficulty of recognising these patients and identifying the source is described. Surveys were done, but the standard of toxicity level has been rapidly changing. Dramatic clinical presentations were not common in Hong Kong, being often asymptomatic or missed. Legislation on lead sources was expectedly slow when only relying on collections of full evidence. The picture described in this paper on what has been in Hong Kong may give us more understanding of the present interest in drinking water contaminated with lead from smelting material used to connecting water pipes.

鉛中毒被認為是一種已經過時的疾病。診斷出鉛中毒病人並找到其毒源的困難之處也已有記錄。有關方面雖已進行相應的普查，但是毒性等級標準仍在快速改變中。在香港，急性鉛中毒臨床徵狀並不常見，而常見的卻是無症狀或被忽視的症狀。毫無意外立法管理鉛排放源進展緩慢，這也是由於立法過程過分依賴於全面的證據收集所致。本文所述能夠讓大家更深刻地認識香港目前飲用水受用於水管修復的可溶性金屬材料鉛污染的情況。