Officials are conducting door-to-door health surveys of residents in eastern Palestine amid fears of a looming public health crisis.
A team of 19 employees from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will ask residents, at the behest of President Biden, to fill out 30-minute surveys.
It comes more than three weeks after a chemical train derailment caused an explosion of toxic plumes that caused a flurry of bizarre symptoms among residents near the crash site.
Wade Lovett, 40, claims he has developed a high-pitched, Michael Jackson-like voice and is struggling to breathe since the chemical spill.
He told DailyMail.com today that the problem “is only getting worse”. Meanwhile, others reported coughing up gray mucus and sunburn-like injuries feared from chemical exposure.
The chemicals on board the train were vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, residual benzene, glycol monobutyl ether, ethyl hexyl acrylate and isobutylene
Wade Lovett (40) struggles to breathe and his previously quiet voice now sounds high and wheezing. As a result, he had to give up his job
Ayla Antoniazzi told CNN, “I let my four-year-old go back to preschool, which is located at East Palestine Elementary School. She went back two days and got a rash on her hands again and started complaining about itching so I undressed her again.
The toxic chemicals aboard trains are known to cause long-term damage, meaning these symptoms for local residents may be just the beginning.
CDC officials are expected to move to neighboring Pennsylvania this week and will also address first responders at the derailment site.
Mr Lovett, a car detailer, was previously in good health but has developed a high-pitched, Michael Jackson-like voice and breathing problems since the chemical incident.
He told the New York Post: “My voice sounds like Mickey Mouse. My normal voice is low. It is difficult to breathe, especially at night. My chest hurts so much at night it feels like I’m drowning. I’m coughing up a lot of mucus.’
He added: “The doctor says I definitely have the chemicals in me.”
But Mr Lovett was told there were no toxicologists in town and to ring and make an appointment.
He told DailyMail.com his voice was “getting worse and worse”. The more I talk, the worse it gets.”
Mr. Lovett lives with his fiancée about 15 minutes from where the trains derailed, but he works near the site, which is why he believes he was hit so badly.
Authorities say aerial surveillance failed to detect dangerous levels of smoke in communities where crews released toxic chemicals from a derailed train and burned it
A large plume of smoke from the aftermath of the incident could be seen for miles
Melissa Blake lives within a kilometer of the crash site in eastern Palestine. She told NBC News she started coughing up gray mucus and had trouble breathing two days after the train derailed on February 3.
She left her home and went straight to the emergency room, where doctors diagnosed her with “acute bronchitis due to chemical fumes.”
Tens of thousands of Ohio and Pennsylvania residents affected by a toxic train derailment offered FREE health screenings
Tens of thousands of residents affected by the poison train derailment in eastern Palestine are being offered free health screenings amid fears of an impending public health crisis.
Ms Blake was placed on a ventilator, oxygen and three types of steroids. She has been discharged from the hospital, but has not yet returned home.
Symptoms have yet to be officially linked to the derailment, but the toxic chemicals released are known to cause a variety of other effects, including cancer.
Exposure to chemicals can cause industrial or chemical bronchitis – inflammation of the airways in the lungs.
Symptoms include a week-long cough, coughing up mucus, chest pain, wheezing and shortness of breath.
In addition to wheezing, there may be a high-pitched voice caused by air being forced through the inflamed airways.
The mucus is usually yellow-green or yellow-gray in color. Inhaled irritants mixed with the mucus can cause it to turn charcoal or gray in color.
Continued exposure to the irritant can cause permanent lung damage, according to Mount Sinai.
Howard Young, general manager of CeramFab, a manufacturing company next to the derailment site, said last week that half the workforce was too sick to work.
The workers had symptoms including nosebleeds, skin rashes and were diagnosed with chemical bronchitis at the hospital.
Several residents in the area document their symptoms on Facebook groups and find it difficult to get proper medical advice because doctors don’t know what tests to do.
Barbara Levy, a marketing coordinator who lives in Youngstown, Ohio, a 30-minute drive from eastern Palestine, said she had a sunburn on her face that was “very itchy.”
She struggles to get enough medical care and said doctors “don’t want to look at it.”
YA’OH-Khanah Ashath Shamashon, who lives in Campbell, Ohio, said she and two of her daughters have had “hive-like rashes all over their bodies and headaches” for more than a week.
She said: “We can’t go because we have nowhere to go at the moment. This worries me because I have a 6 month old baby. I did not bathe him with the water. I bought liters of water to bathe him… It’s so upset.”
Ayla and Tyler Antoniazzi said they were considering leaving the area after their two young daughters started showing symptoms.
They live less than a mile from the incident and returned to their home the next day after the evacuation notice was lifted, but told CNN their children were “not themselves.”
She said: “My eldest had a rash on her face. The youngest too, but not as bad. The two-year-old closed her eye and complained that her eye hurt. She was very lethargic.’
“I allowed my four-year-old to return to Kindergarten, which is located at East Palestine Primary School. She went back two days and got a rash on her hands again and started complaining of itching so I took them off again,” she added.
comments on Twitter the disaster has been compared to Chernobyl – the nuclear accident in Ukraine in 1986. Thirty-two people died from radiation sickness, and many more became seriously ill.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is finally in the city at the behest of President Biden and will visit homes to ask how residents are doing, see what they need and match them with the right people to contact organizations.
The Ohio Department of Health also opened a health clinic in eastern Palestine last week amid fears of a public health crisis.
It quickly expanded its services to offer free health screenings to tens of thousands of Ohio and Pennsylvania residents.
The toxic chemical soup released after a train crash in Ohio contains two known carcinogens and other substances that can cause convulsions and vomiting.
Days later, rail operator Norfolk Southern released the chemicals into the atmosphere in a controlled manner, which they said was necessary to prevent a possible explosion.
Originally, Norfolk Southern published a data sheet listing the train-side chemicals as vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, benzene residues and other flammable liquids.
Then it turned out that there were three more dangerous chemicals on board the train: glycol monobutyl ether, ethyl hexyl acrylate and isobutylene.
Vinyl chloride is a carcinogen that can disable the central nervous system, while benzene is a naturally occurring colorless or slightly yellow liquid.
Minutes to hours after benzene is inhaled, symptoms such as drowsiness, dizziness, increased or irregular heartbeat, headache, confusion, unconsciousness and even death can occur at very high concentrations.
Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether is a liquid used in paint removers that can cause vomiting, ethylhexyl acrylate is a substance in adhesives that causes drowsiness, and butyl acrylate is a colorless liquid also used to make paints, adhesives and sealants.
According to the CDC, severe exposure to the vapor can cause eye irritation, including redness and tearing, itchy throat, difficulty breathing, and redness and cracking of the skin.
Animals were also found dead in the area. A North Lima resident, about ten miles from the train derailment, abandoned her six chickens days after the chemical fire started.
Taylor Holzer, a registered fox handler who lives outside the evacuation area, told WKBN that all of his foxes are sick and one is dead. Dead fish were also seen in bodies of water around the crime scene after the incident.
Source link
Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
