Document bByL8n2Bn6D4b5D1gV7mvrmXZ
SUMMARY OF CASE OF,
was employed by Orange State Oil Company in maintenance work, and in this capacity# he# with othorn, was engaged in asking certain alterations in pipe line connections and In cleaning out the corresponding gasoline storage tanks at a number of terminals of Orange State Oil Company. During the period of December 6th to 12fch ha was at Tampa and at tala point a large storage tank was cleaned. This tank, on subsequent investigation, was found to have bean used for mixing leaded gasoline in January of 1954* cl had not been cleaned sine* The mixing operations consisted in th introduction of anti knock Fluid into a gasoline stream entertrig the tank, instead of filling the tank with gasoline si ready mixed with Fluid at a regular- mixing point. Under these conditions of mixing, it may happen that the Fluid separates out, to soma degree, and lies under the water layer at the bottom of a tack for an indefinite period, or until the tank is cleaned out. Son degree of auoh separation evidently occurred in this case, for the examination of son of the sludge removed in cleaning (obtained subsequently from a pit in which it had dried out almost entirely) disclosed tk presence of G.085$ of organic load, and 1.6$ total lead. The tank which wpa cleaned, and from which this sludge saaple was derived, was the only one at this site which had been used for the direct mixing, of leaded gasoline. It, therefore, can be convicted of giving rise to the serious lead exposure subsequently revealed In the illness
K F 002105
N 24470
from December 1st onward* shows that no other opportunities for
significant occupational load exposure occurred. Borne days after
completing the job of cleaning the above tank.
became
111, and to abbreviate the clinical history, which is available
in part in his hospital record, his illness developed In severity
and followed the characteristic course of a fatal case of organic
lead intoxication. The necropsy findings wsr compatible with
the clinical diagnosis above, and in fact, except for certain
unrelated chronic lesions, resembled those described in certain
previous fatal cases of lead poisoning* The terminal broncho
pneumonia, for example, has been described In such oases before,
(Sorris and Settlor, J.A.M.A. 8*5: 8l8, (1925)*
with the results of analysis, are listed below, and are compared
with the average results obtained by this laboratory on normal
parsons, as well as those obtained in a previous fatal case of
tetraethyl lead poisoning.
Description of Tl'as'ue '
Lead in Milligrams per 100 Grama
Hubbard
Previous Case
"formal Persona
Liver Kidney Brain Lung
2.0b
o ,6U
l.o8
o.ii5
0.150 0.027 0.015 0.028
K " 0021058
3
Certain possibiilties for the chance contamination of th tl33n3 before receipt at this laboratory ware Investi gated* Samples of the embalming fluids used for.embalming the body before the necropsy, and a saaplo of the formalin in which the tl33ues had been preserved by the pathologist, were analysed for their lead content. Only traces of load were found in these materials* Also the containers used by the pathologist for the preservation of the tissues were examined and found satisfactory* The above analyses my be accepted, therefore, as evidence of the facts as to the lead content of the tissues of Hubbard at the time of his death.
In summary, the source and significance of the lead exposure of the deceased have been demonstrated, the onset and clinical course of his Illness ware typical of acute organic load poisoning as previously seen and described in medical literature (ICehoe J.It.A. 85* 108, (1925) I Machle, J*A.&*A*
105* 573 (1935))* the necropsy findings* were compatible with
the diagnosis of tetraethyl load poisoning, and the analytical results obtained on the tissues have revealed the px*osence of quantities of load sufficient to cause death.
Signed* Robert A. Kehoo, H#Z># Director Kettering Laboratory of Applied Physiology College of Medicine, Kdon Av, Cincinnati, Ohio
0021059