WHO – Lead poisoning prevention week – 2013
Sudhir Prabhu
1,
Varun Pai
2
Medical camp and blood lead esti‐
mation
Date: 12‐10‐2013 to 16‐10‐2013
Objective of the event:‐
To determine the blood lead
levels among Hulivesha dancers
after application of body paint (pre
and post paint application – to ne‐
gate the environmental lead expo‐
sure).
To find and treat any physi‐
cal illnesses associated with body
paint application or dancing.
Description of the event
‘Hulivesha’ or tiger dance is a
performance art form common in
the coastal part of Karnataka. The
dancers perform various stunts in
praise of goddess Sharada, the
chief deity in the Dasara festival of
coastal Karnataka.
The dancers paint their entire
body and perform in front a street
audience for the period of 2 to 3
days continuously. The dancers
range in the age group of 5 to 60
years of age, usually belonging to
the lower socio economic class of
the society. The paints used were
yellow, orange and red colour syn‐
thetic lead enamel paint which
studies have shown, contain high
lead content
The Dept. of Forensic Medicine
and Toxicology and Dept. of Com‐
munity Medicine, Father Muller
Medical college, Mangalore held a
camp on 12
th
,13
th
,15
th
and 16
th
Oc‐
tober 2013 under the aegis of the “
WHO‐ Lead poisoning prevention
week” where the doctors studied
and treated the various ailments
seen in the “Hulivesha dancers”
after the period of dancing. The
numbers of dancers present in the
camp were 80 in number. Blood
was drawn to study the deviations
in the blood parameters in this par‐
ticular group.
The common signs and symp‐
toms seen were pruritus (6), der‐
matitis on application and removal
of the paint (32). A few subjects
complained of muscle cramps (16),
1
Department of Community Medicine, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore.2Department of Forensic Medicine, Father Muller Med‐
ical College, Mangalore.
Correspondence to Dr Sudhir Prabhu (sudhirhaladi@gmail.com)
ANNALS OF COMMUNITY HEALTH | VOL 2 | ISSUE 1 | DEC 2013 – FEB 2014 | Page: 12
Activities
Pre ‐ paint application camp
Post – paint Application Camp
Rashes on the neck and chest Rashes on the back
Rashes on
the trunk