| Reactive Airways Dysfunction and Systemic Complaints after Mass Exposure to Bromine Alan Woolf and Michael Shannon Pediatric Environmental Health Center, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Poison Control System, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Abstract
Occasionally children are the victims of mass poisoning from an environmental contaminant that occurs due to an unexpected common point source of exposure. In many cases the contaminant is a widely used chemical generally considered to be safe. In the following case, members of a sports team visiting a community for an athletic event were exposed to chemicals while staying at a local motel. Bromine-based sanitizing agents and other chemicals such as hydrochloric acid, which were used in excess in the motel's swimming pool, may have accounted for symptoms experienced by the boy reported here and at least 16 other adolescents. Samples of pool water contained excess bromine (8.2 µg/mL ; ideal pool bromine concentration is 2-4 µg/mL) . Symptoms and signs attributable to bromine toxicity included irritative skin rashes ; eye, nose, and throat irritation ; bronchospasm ; reduced exercise tolerance ; fatigue ; headache ; gastrointestinal disturbances ; and myalgias. While most of the victims recovered within a few days, the index case and several other adolescents had persistent or recurrent symptoms lasting weeks to months after the exposure. Key words: bromine, children, mucous membrane irritation, respiratory, swimming pool sanitizers. Environ Health Perspect 107:507-509 (1999) . [Online 10 May 1999] http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1999/107p507-509woolf/ abstract.html Address correspondence to A. Woolf, Massachusetts Poison Control System, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-5724 USA. Telephone: (617) 355-6609. Fax: (617) 738-0032. Received 25 March 1999 ; accepted 26 March 1999.
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