Title

Toxic Remedy: A Case of a 3-year-old Child with Lead Colic Treated with lead monoxide (Greta)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2008

Publication Title

Clinical Pediatrics

Volume

47

Issue

1

First page number:

77

Last page number:

79

Abstract

This article reports the case of a 3-year-old male with an elevated blood lead level. The child had a history of consuming imported lead-contaminated candies resulting in abdominal pains for which he was given a Hispanic folk remedy, called greta, by his mother. The home remedy aggravated the child’s symptoms which prompted medical consultation. Analysis of the powdered folk remedy revealed a lead concentration of 140 000 ppm. This case highlights the complexities associated with identifying unfamiliar sources of lead poisoning, and their potential relationships to cultural practices.

Keywords

Alternative medicine; Alternative therapies; Child; Lead monoxide; Lead oxides; Lead poisoning in children – Case studies; Traditional medicine

Disciplines

Alternative and Complementary Medicine | Community-Based Research | Maternal and Child Health | Medicine and Health | Pediatrics | Toxicology

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited

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