Several investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fell ill while studying the health impacts of a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last month, ABC News reports.
The Norfolk Southern train derailment occurred on Feb 3, releasing toxic chemicals such as vinyl chloride, ethyl acrylate, and isobutylene into the environment.
Residents in the town and surrounding areas had reported symptoms like headaches and lethargy since the incident, according to ABC.
Seven investigators from the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry started experiencing symptoms consistent with those reported by residents and first responders during door-to-door assessments.
These symptoms included sore throat, coughing, headache, and nausea.
The CDC issued a statement confirming the incident: “On March 6, seven members of a 15-person CDC/ATSDR team conducting Assessment of Chemical Exposure (ACE) surveys of East Palestine residents reported symptoms, including sore throat, headache, coughing and nausea.”
The federal health agency indicated that the affected individuals immediately reported their symptoms to federal safety officers and reported that most of the team members’ symptoms had resolved within the same afternoon, while everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours.
The affected team members had not reported any ongoing health effects.
