137Cs Accident, Goiania (1987)

Accident scenario

On 13 September 1987, a radiation accidcnt occurred in the city of Goiania in central Brazil. Approximately 250 people were exposed to a 137-Cs source. At least 14 patients showed some degree of bone marrow depression, and eight developed the classical signs and symptoms of acute radiation syndrome (ARS). Twenty-eight people presented local radiation injuries ranging from first to third degree, and 104 individuals showed evidence of internal contamination. A source assembly containing a 50.9-TBq ( 1375-Ci) 137-Cs source was removed from a radiotherapy unit by two scavengers and left behind in an abandoned clinic. The assembly, loaded onto a wheel-barrow, and taken to the home of one of the men. The men managed to break the shutter of the collimator orifice, exposing and rupturing the source in such a manner that fragments of it were spread over the adjacent areas. Small bits of the source were also withdrawn with the aid of a screwdriver. This operation took place on a plot of land shared by several families living in a housing development. About 3 h after the attempt to break open the apparatus, both men developed nausea followed by vomiting; one of them had diarrhea. The gastrointestinal disturbances persisted for 4-5 d. On l4 September (day I ), the assembly was apparently offered to a junkman, and it was placed in a dump in his backyard. At 9:00 p.m., when he went back to the dump, he noticed that the object he had purchased earlier emitted some sort of luminescence, which intrigued him sufficiently to cause him to bring it into his house. It remained in the living-room until 2l September (day 8), accessible to family, friends, and curious neighbors. Later, it was taken back to the dump, broken into pieces, and distributed among various individuals, mostly relatives and friends. The assembly was left at the junkyard until 28 September (day I 5 ), while the ruptured capsule was sent to a second junkyard, where others tried to break it open with a power saw. The wife of the junkman noticed that an increasing number of people were showing such gastrointestinal symptoms as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and suspected that some relationship might exist between the luminescent material and the health disturbances. he then persuaded her husband into agreeing to hand over the source capsule to the Sanitary Surveillance Division (SSD). She took this task upon herself, and on the afternoon of 28 September (day 15 ), accompanied by an employee of her husband's, she carried the source capsule, by bus, to the SSD. There, several individuals were exposed to the radiation emitted by the 137-Cs source, and at least five received significant radiation doses (from 0.2 to I.3 Gy). (ref-1).  ¤Supplementary information

Chromosomal dosimetry

The first 25 blood samples, comprising all the hospitalised patients, arrived within the first week following the discovery of the accident. Fifty samples were received during the next four weeks and the rest within the second month. From each individual. a 10 ml peripheral blood sample was collected in a heparinised vacutainer. The erythrocytes were sedimented by cerltrifugation and 2 ml of the huffy coat containing leucocytes was cultured.

References

1. Oliveria AR, Hunt JG, Valverde NJL, Brandao-Mello CE and Farina R: Medical and related aspects of the Goiania accident: An overview. Health Phys., 60: 17-24, 1991. 2. IAEA: Dosimetric and medical aspects of the radiological accident in Goiania in 1987. IAEA-TECDOC-1009, 1988. 3. Ramalho AT, Hascimento ACH and Natarajan AT: Dose assessment by cytogenetic analysis in the Goiania (Brazil) radiation accident. Radiat. Protect. Dosimet., 25: 97-100, 1988. 4. Ramalho AT, Nascimento ACH, Littlefield LG, Natarajan AT and Sasaki MS: Frequency of chromosomal aberrations in a subject accidentally exposed to 137-Cs in the Goiania (Brazil) radiation accident: intercomparison among four laboratories. Mutation Res., 252: 157-160, 1991. 5. Natarajan AT, Vyas RC, Wiegant J and Curado MP: A cytogenetic follow-up of the victims of a radiation accident in Goiania (Brazil). Mutation Res., 247: 103-111, 1991. 6. Ramalho AT, Cuado MP and Natarajan AT: Lifespan of human lymphocytes estimated during a six year cytogenetic follow-up of individuals accidentally exposed in the 1987 radiological accident in Brazil. Mutation Res., 331: 47-54, 1995. 7. Natarajan AT, Santos SJ, Darroudi F, Hadjidikova V, Vermeulen S, Chatterjee S, v/d Berg M, Grigorova M, Sakamoto-Hojo ET, Granath F, Ramalho AT and Curado MP: 137-Cesium-induced chromosome aberrations analysed by fluorescence in situ hybridization: eight years follow up of the Goiania radiation accident victims. Mutation Res., 400: 299-312, 1998. 8. Ramalho, A. T. and Nascimento, A. C. H.: The rate of chromosomal aberrations in 137Cs-exposed individuals in the Goiania radiation accident. Health Phys., 60:67-70, 1991.

Chromosome aberration analysis

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	Subject	No. of cells	Dic+ring/cell	Subject	No. of cells	Dic+ring/cell
	1	150	1.253	16	200	0.070
	2	100	1.030	17	200	0.065
	3	26	0.962	18	100	0.060
	4	170	0.824	19	250	0.060
	5	100	0.760	20	100	0.050
	6	200	0.570	21	170	0.040
	7	100	0.540	22	140	0.029
	8	150	0.533	23	200	0.025
	9	100	0.270	24	300	0.023
	10	130	0.262	25	200	0.020
	11	150	0.260	26	200	0.020
	12	250	0.228	27	200	0.020
	13	100	0.160	28	200	0.020
	14	100	0.100	29	225	0.018
	15	200	0.075
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