system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Do people who have bullets or bullet fragments lodged in their bodies subsequently show symptoms of lead poisoning?
gpt
Yeah, sometimes, per the literature it has happened. Depends on where the fragment is. The body is pretty good at encapsulating foreign material, and if the bullet isn't actively dissolving in stomach acid etc., it could have a passive layer of organic lead salts etc which are much less active, chemically, within days or weeks. The lead in the person's blood and tissues will also be elevated so long as the chunk is in them, but likely below symptomatic levels...unless it isn't, but those aren't the majority of cases it turns out.