Virginia Magazine asked doctors and nurses from the U.Va. Health System about the problems they see most often, the medical advances they’re most excited about and the biggest misconceptions about their fields. Their answers might surprise you; they will certainly keep you healthier.
Dr. Chris Holstege
The Toxicologist
Dr. Chris Holstege founded the clinical toxicology division at U.Va. in 1999. Patients find themselves under his division’s care due to “everything from drug interactions or abuse, spider or snake bites, industrial exposure to toxins, to kids who eat things that they shouldn’t, to criminal matters like poisoning or terrorism.”
Common Problems:
Dr. Holstege says young children often face risks in new environments. “Children get into their grandparent’s medications or cleaning products. Often people don’t think about childproofing when children come to visit,” he says. Adolescents and adults are at risk of poisoning due to drug use. “There are plant-based and synthetic drugs, both legal and illegal, the effects of which haven’t been studied much yet,” says Dr. Holstege. “Lately, we’ve been seeing significant adverse effects, such as seizures, caused by synthetic cannabinoids shipped in from Asia. We report these to the Center for Disease Control; these drugs are increasingly a public health concern.”
Most Exotic:
In 2004, as part of U.Va.’s Critical Incident Analysis Group, Dr. Holstege flew to Vienna to consult on the possible poisoning of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. “Based on his clinical course, I diagnosed dioxin poisoning, which subsequent lab tests confirmed,” says Dr. Holstege. Criminal poisonings are rare, he says, especially since the early 1900s, when new analytical testing made them easier to diagnose.
Biggest Myth:
“People fixate on perceived dangers that pose exceedingly low risk,” says Dr. Holstege. “A few years ago, people worried about arsenic in a wood preservative used in children’s play sets. Then it was mercury in fish.” Dr. Holstege says that in toxicology the most important factor is dose. “Almost anything can be toxic if we have too much of it. Even water,” he says. The body has natural systems to expel toxins, he says, and exposure to small amounts of a substance usually doesn’t lead to toxicity. “As a member of the American Heart Association, I tell people: Eat fish.”
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Comments
We are being poisoned in NZ by low level exposure to Dioxin! Most of what you read is rubbish, propaganda put out by the chemical companies, 2,4,5-T and 2,4D are the main sources of Dioxin in the food chain! Banned years ago but they last for hundreds of years in the soil, the World used thousands of tonnes of these chemicals every year from the 1950′s. Every drop contained DIOXIN, they are still out there, killing your children, deforming your babies! Under huge pressure the manufacturers reduced the amount of TCCD in 2,4,5-T whilst other Dioxins increased, the effect was just the same – long slow death! Don’t just focus on TCCD, the figures for toxicity of the other Dioxins are theoretical not proven, impossible to isolate a single Dioxin in any case! See our case study - http://www.dioxin-nz.com/clinicaltrial.html
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