EFFECTS OF FALLOUT RADIATION
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Fig. 1. Chronological changes in leukocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes in Rongelap
people after exposure to 175 r of whole-body radiation from fallout. Points represent mean
counts of population >35 vears of age. Open points are mean counts of comparison population
used at that time.
burning of the skin, and a few complained of lacrimation and burning of the eyes.
Subsequent to this, the people remained asymptomatic until about 2 weeks after
the accident, when cutaneous lesions and patchy loss of hair developed owing to
8-irradiation of the skin. Hematological examinations showed increasing depression
of peripheral blood elements, and radiochemical examinations of the urine revealed
the presence of detectable radioactivity in the samples.
During the first few months many of the people showed a slight weight loss. It
is not knownif this was associated with irradiation effect or environmental change.
A. HEMATOLOGICAL FINDINGS
Figures 1 and 2 show chronologically the changes (in absolute mean counts)
that have occurred in peripheral blood elements of the 64 Rongelap people who
received the largest dose of radiation. Similar but less marked changes have oc-
curred in the 18 Rongelap people who were on Alinginae Atoll at the time of expo-
sure,
1. White Blood Count
The leukoevtes largely reflected the changes that occurred in the neutrophils
{see Lig. 1) and will not be discussed separately. Unexplained changes in the mean