Late effect of atomic-bomb radiation at Nishiyama district

This paper summarizes the present survey concerning the specificity of exposure conditions for the residual activity caused by radioactive fall-out, and the late effect of atomic-bomb radiation on the abnorml blood findings and on the incidence of leukemia at the Nishiyama district (where the primary radioactivity is negligible) in Nagasaki. It was found that radioactivity was significantly higher in the soil of the Nishiyama district than in the other districts. Leukocytes tended to be increased for a long period of time in many inhabitants in this district. This tended to appear more frequently in younger inhabitants than in older inhabitants. Two patients out of 200 inhabitants with chronic myelogenous leukemia were studied further. The inhabitants were considered to be exposed for a long period of time to residual radioactivity, and external or internal irradiation which accompanied it. It was suggested that the exposure process was similar to that in people who work in the x-ray equipments. the fact that the inhabitants in this district are very different from those in the other bombed districts is valuable for the study of the effects of radiation on human body. (Serizawa, K.)