Assessment of a scheme for prioritizing inorganic toxicants by using signs-and-symptoms analysis

In cases of exposure to unknown substances, analyzing environmental or biological samples for elevated levels of toxicants can be extremely complex. We assessed a method for prioritizing toxic substances according to the agreement between toxic-specific and incident-reported signs and symptoms by analyzing 25 reported case histories of exposure to inorganic toxicants. In all but one case, this analysis scheme successfully prioritized toxicants for subsequent analysis. Despite its limitations, the scheme is a substantial improvement over other available methods.