Lead Poisoning Surveillance: A Collaborative Effort between Epidemiology and WIC

There is no safe level of lead in the body, and elevated lead in children can lead to decreased Intelligence Quotients (IQ) and behavioral problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends lead testing of children with a positive risk assessment. Children who live in low socioeconomic areas may be at higher risk for lead exposure. As recent events have shown, having an elevated lead poisoning surveillance system can be critical to ensure that there is not a community-wide lead exposure. To reach the children that may not have been screened by a primary care physician, on March 1, 2016 the Sedgwick County Health Department Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program began offering lead screenings to all children in the WIC program and their mothers. Per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, the Sedgwick County Health Department Epidemiology program (Epi) investigates anyone who has an elevated blood lead test (5 μg/dL or greater). There are two types of lead tests – screening (capillary finger stick) and confirmatory (venous blood draw).