A worker in a battery manufacturing plant presents with wrist drop (extensor palsy), blue line on gums (Burton's line), and basophilic stippling on blood film. The causative heavy metal is:
- A Mercury
- B Arsenic
- C Lead ✓
- D Manganese
Correct answer: C. Lead
Explanation
Lead poisoning (plumbism) presents with peripheral motor neuropathy causing wrist drop (radial nerve) and foot drop in adults; Burton's line — a blue-black gum line at the gingival margin due to lead sulfide deposition; and basophilic stippling of erythrocytes due to inhibition of 5'-nucleotidase and aggregation of ribosomes. Lead inhibits ALA dehydratase and ferrochelatase, impairing heme synthesis.
Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.