Image Credit: Michael Swensen/Getty Images 
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, are experiencing unusual symptoms — which one healthcare worker called “chemical bronchitis” — following a train derailment earlier this month, which spewed toxic chemicals into the environment.
Local healthcare workers are seeing an influx of people from the East Palestine area that are complaining they don’t feel well, according to a report by WKBN.
QUICKmed Urgent Care workers told the outlet that they are seeing patients report similar symptoms, such as feeling a burning sensation when they breathe, rashes, and general feelings of weakness.
Some East Palestine residents have even said that they begin to feel better when they leave town for a while, only to feel bad one again after they return home.
“This could be a lot of things, but if you’re leaving your house and [symptoms] improve, and you go back and it comes back, I’m not thinking that’s allergies or not thinking it’s a cold,” QUICKmed’s Deb Weese told WKBN. “I think it’s related to that stuff you’re inhaling there.”
Weese added that the burning sensation when breathing could be a form of “chemical bronchitis.”
