Characterization of Acute Exposure to Toxic Metals in Military Environments and Personnel
Abstract
More than 40,000 Veterans have been injured in recent conflicts, resulting in retained embedded metals as a result of blast injuries, including those from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). It is also possible that Veterans or Service members are exposed to metals in the air from “burn pits” where all types of materials are burned to destroy waste in the areas of conflict. Both of these sources often contain combinations of multiple metals. It is well known that high-level exposure to metals, such as lead, mercury or arsenic, is harmful to human health and can contribute to chronic conditions including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s. These metals may also cause death in high-level exposures. The full panel of health effects of military personnel’s exposure to metals is not known, and the Department of Veterans Affairs supports a current program (Toxic Embedded Fragment Surveillance Center [TEFSC]), to monitor Veterans with embedded fragments by characterizing the level of 14 metals in their urine. While this program provides excellent evaluation after deployment, it does not provide characterization of the type or burden of metal exposure at the time of exposure while in areas of conflict due to the large size and sensitivity of the research-focused instruments used to measure the metals. Therefore, the precise profile of acute metals exposure in military personnel in the field remains unknown due to the lack of appropriate technology. Acute exposure represents the highest level of toxic metals concentration from the exposure and can be best determined at the time of the event. The metal concentration can be measured in both samples from the environment such as air, soil, dust, or water and also from biologic samples taken directly from the military personnel. Because of the difficulty in measuring small particles of retained metals in all body tissues, the combination of knowing both the environmental level as well as acute concentrations from body samples at the time of the event may be most informative for future health risk assessment. This then serves as a critical part of a Veteran or Service member’s military health history and may provide evidence for immediate recommendations for monitoring or care, or will serve to inform assessment of future health risk in combination with information from programs such as that offered by the TEFSC and its companion registry. What we propose here provides an early detection of toxic metal hazards at, or immediately following, an exposure in the field. Current technologies and programs monitor toxic metal exposure over long periods – during the time when the medical consequences of those toxic metals are developing. The new ability proposed here – to measure the type and amount of toxic metals near the time of exposure – provides an opportunity to address the metal exposure before the resulting medical problems occur. This research study is a new combination of advanced technologies that is designed to solve the unmet need for toxic metal measurement in the field from biological and environmental samples. Briefly, we will use a nanotechnology that provides a large surface area in a small space on a glass slide. This is important to get a strong signal from a small instrument that will ultimately be portable and used in rugged settings. This sensor foundation is then decorated with both gold and materials that absorb each of the important toxic metals. The technology used today to detect when metal is present in an environmental or body sample requires a very large research instrument. While it is precise and accurate, it uses a great deal of electrical power and required trained technicians for operation, so is not for use in the field. Importantly, this proposal will test the novel application of gold decoration to the sensor to greatly amplify an optical signal created by the toxic metal. Since the gold is in the form of very small p
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 29, 2018
- Source ID
- W81XWH1810412
Entities
People
- Todd D. Giorgio
Organizations
- United States Army
- Vanderbilt University