Occupational Diseases Developed as a Result of Severely Injured Nervous System: Acute and Chronic Neurotic Effects1

Some results of multiple epidemiological, clinical, electroneurophysiological, and psychological studies that reveal different types of neurotoxicoses are presented in this work. Under conditions of present-day industry, when a worker is exposed to concentrations close to but below the maximum allowable concentrations, or MAC values, of toxic substances, acute neurotoxicoses rarely develop, occurring perhaps only in catastrophies. Acute intoxications may be accompanied by mass hysteria, which impedes etiological diagnosis and prognosis. Vegetative polyneuropathy is the most common type of chronic intoxication where central vegetative disorders sometimes precede the peripheral ones. Clear forms of intoxication caused by neurotrophic poisons show stable torpid development during subsequent phases of a disease despite the absence of contact with the toxicant. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.