PLATELETS x 10°*
13
45h
4
40 }-
~
35K
*
4
MEAN COUNTS
{NON- EXPOSED)
301% ®
4
*.
25
i
e
ry
rd
Oo
10
|
e
20
s
3
40
#50
AGE (YR)
60
70
+80
90
Figure 13. Platelets three years post-exposure,
Rongelap males.
dropped about 23% in the exposed population.
However, the present controls had counts about
equally below those of last year’s control group.
The numbersof lymphocytes are slightly below
the unexposed levels for both age groups (‘Table
6 and Figure 9). Figure 10 showsa greaterdistribution of counts below the mean controllevel.
The cumulative distribution curve (Figure 11)
showsthe exposed countsto bestill slightly displacedto theleft of the unexposed counts. In the
exposed groupthree people had absolute lymphocyte counts of less than 1500, compared to one in
the unexposed group. There wasa slight drop in
the mean lymphocyte count this year compared
with last year’s (about 13%), but the countin this
year’s control population was similarly below that
of last year’s control population.
Eosinophils were elevated in both the exposed
and the control groups. In the exposed groups
45
PLATELETS x 107*
40
35
3 YR CONTROL
(RONGELAP NON-EXPOSED}
30
25
20
|
io
Qo
|
20
|
3060
L
40
|
|
|
50
60
70
AGE {YR.)
!
80
!
«690
tribution of individual counts around the unex-
Figure 14. Platelets three years post-exposure,
Rongelap females.
CUMULATIVE PERCENT
190
56% of the eosinophil counts were above 5%. In
the unexposed group nearly as many (48%)
showed counts above 5%.
Monocytes were at about the samelevel as in
the unexposed group, but, as with the other white
cells, the mean count was lowerthan last year’s.
The mean platelet counts wereslightly below the
unexposed level (Table 6 and Figure 12). The
greatest difference was seen in the males >10
years of age with mean counts about 18% below
the unexposed level. These differences are apparent in Figures 13 and 14, which show the agedis-
posed mean curves. Figure 15 shows that the
cumulative distribution curves in the exposed
groupsarestill slightly displaced to the left. Two
people (3.2%) in the exposed group hadplatelet
counts below 150,000 (compared with four last
year), and one (1.2%) in the unexposed group.
PERIOD MINIMUM
COUNTS
(DAYS 26-30}
Nine (14%) in the exposed group had countsless
than 200,000, compared with five (5.9%) in the
unexposed group. [There were three (2.3%) this
low in the Utirik group.]
RONGELAP UNEXPOSED
40
3 YEARS POST EXPOSURE
5
i3
2!
29
37
PLATELETS x 10*
45
#53
GI
Figure 15. Platelets, cumulative, Rongelap, all ages.
Basophils were about the same in the exposed
and unexposed groups and showed little change
since a year ago. Counts of basophils in 4000 white
cells were carried out as a base-line study for
leukemia. In studies on the Japanese exposed to
the atom bombs’® it was noted that early in the
development of leukemia an increase in basophils
in the peripheral blood occurred. No high counts