60Co Accident, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, 11 April 2008


Accident scenario 

     On 11 April 2008, 60Co accident occurred in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, . While using 60Co to irradiate traditional Chinese medicine in an irradiation fabrication plant, five workers (A, B, C, D and E) entered the irradiation room by mistake and exposed to varying degrees of gamma-rays from a 60Co source with an activity of 6.66×1014 Bq. They were approximately 80-150cm from the source. Woker A worked for 14-15 min, worker B worked less than 15 min and C, D and E worked for 5-10 imn.

     Approximately 30 min after exposure,they all developed nausea and vomiting of various degrees. The showed facial blushing and blepheral hyperemia. Worker A had a feber with a temperature of 38.9 oC. They were transferred to the Hospital in Beijing 14 h after accident for further treatment. The absolute lymphocyte counts at 3 days after accident were 0, 0.31×109/L, 0.46×109/L, 0.72×109/L and 0.51×109/L in worker A, B, C, D and E, respectively. Worker D died of buberculosis 1.5 y after the accident.

    At the adimissin to the Hospital, blood samples were obtained from all 5 workers for chromosome aberration analysis and MN studies. 

References 

(1) Yao, B., Li, Y., Liu, G., Guo, M., Bai, J., Man, Q., Qiu, L. and Ai, H. (2013): Estimation of the biological dose received by five victims of a radiation accident using three different cytogenetic tools. Mutation Res., 751:66-72.
(2) Wang, Z-D., Zhang, X-Q., Du, J., Wang, Y., Tian, R., Liu, Q-J. and Chen, Y. (2015): Continuous cytogenetic follow-up, over 5 years, ot three individuals accidentally irradiated by a cobalt-60 source. Mutation Res., 779:1-4. 

Chromosome aberration analysis 
.
. Chromosome aberration analysis in 5 workers accidentally irradiated with 60Co gamma-rays
Worker Sex Age Sampling Culture time No. of No. of Distribution of cells with indicated number of Dics+Rc
(yrs) Tissue* Time (h) (h) cells Dic+Rc** 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A M 32 PB 16, 24 72 50 333 3 1 1 7 11 16 8 4 2
BM 23 52 51 304 1 6 4 9 12 7 9 2 1
Total 101 637 4 6 5 10 19 18 25 10 4 2 1
B M 42 PB 18 52 100 94 43 35 17 1 2 1
BM 23 52 86 81 34 30 16 5 1
Total 186 175 77 65 33 6 3 1
C M 43 PB 16 52 305 159 189 84 23 7 2
BM 23 52 132 90 64 52 11 4 1
Total 437 249 253 136 34 11 3
D M 39 PB 16 52 220 83 150 60 8 1 1
BM 23 52 226 77 161 53 12
Total 446 160 311 113 20 1 1
E M 32 PB 16 52 220 92 143 63 13 1
BM 23 52 200 92 128 59 8 3 2
Total 420 184 271 122 21 4 2
*) PB: peripheral blood, BM: bone marrow (Bone marrow was cultured in culture meium with PHA and treated similarly to that of blood lymphocytes.)
**) . Rc: centric rings
.
Worker Sampling Frequencies of MN Frequencies of PCC-Rings
No. of No. of Distribution of MN No. of No. of Distribution of PCC-R
Tissue Time (h) cells MN 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 cells PCC-R 0 1 2 3 4 5
A PB 16 3 11 1 1 5 2 0
PB 24 4 10 2 1 1
BM 23 4 10 1 2 1 104 65 64 22 12 5 1
B PB 16 616 443 308 203 82 16 7 172 29 147 21 4
C PB 16 681 345 414 205 48 12 2 83 12 75 6 1 1
D PB 16 620 217 457 116 41 5 1 136 9 128 7 1
. E PB 16 951 466 605 245 85 14 1 1 85 5 81 3 1
.

Commentary at data compilation
      The dose-distribution profiles by unfolding Dic+Rc distribution. The dose distribution profiles below are not adjusted by lymphocyte survival (For method, see Sasaki MS, Int. J. Radiat. Biol., 79:83-97, 2003). The commentary given here is the one added at the time of data compilation, and does not necessarily reflect the conclusion of the authors.