TY - JOUR ID - 44518 TI - A Challenge between Central Nervous System Infection and Lead Toxicity: Opioid Case Reports from Iran JO - Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences JA - IJMS LA - en SN - 0253-0716 AU - Shabani, Minoosh AU - Nasiri, Maryam AU - Aminzadeh, Zohreh AU - Hassanian-Moghaddam, Hossein AD - Infectious Diseases and Tropical Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AD - Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; and Department of Clinical Toxicology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Y1 - 2019 PY - 2019 VL - 44 IS - 2 SP - 168 EP - 171 KW - Lead KW - Toxicity KW - Central nervous system KW - infection DO - 10.30476/ijms.2019.44518 N2 - Although lead pollution has long been known as a cause of poisoning, it has remained a challenge to reliably diagnose it due to its common symptoms in various diseases. In this article, we report two cases of acute loss of consciousness due to the ingestion of opium-contaminated with lead. The reported cases share patterns of symptoms similar to meningitis and encephalitis which are usual etiology for the loss of consciousness. Lead poisoning is not a usual etiology for loss of consciousness and is considered in cases of occupational or environmental exposure. These reported cases showed a pattern similar to meningitis and encephalitis, but due to the unusual manifestations during their admission and coexistence with gastrointestinal symptoms, we were led to consider poisoning as the cause of consciousness loss. Lead poisoning often goes unrecognized due to a low index of suspicion, but it may turn out to be fatal. Therefore, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any neurobehavioral deficits in substance abusers. UR - https://ijms.sums.ac.ir/article_44518.html L1 - https://ijms.sums.ac.ir/article_44518_76adefa65f001c2700ee13c814b56f0d.pdf ER -