The white cell count and differential is variable and depends upon the cause of the anemia. The bone marrow shows erythroid hyperplasia. Ringed sideroblasts are present. The TIBC is normal. Lead poisoning Lead Poisoning Lead is a particularly toxic metal which impairs globin, membrane and heme production.
Most patients are children and present with a hypochromic microcytic anemia.
The indices are decreased and the RDW is increased. The RBC histogram is left shifted. The morphology shows moderate anisocytosis and poikilocytosis but the characteristic feature is marked coarse basophilic stippling out of proportion to the degree of anemia. Usually the more severe the anemia the more stippling present, this is not the case with lead poisoning. The degree of stippling suggests a more severe anemia than present.