Showing papers by "Dipankar Chakraborti published in 2003"

Arsenic Groundwater Contamination in Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar, India: A Future Danger?

Abstract: The pandemic of arsenic poisoning due to contaminated groundwater in West Bengal, India, and all of Bangladesh has been thought to be limited to the Ganges Delta (the Lower Ganga Plain), despite early survey reports of arsenic contamination in groundwater in the Union Territory of Chandigarh and its surroundings in the northwestern Upper Ganga Plain and recent findings in the Terai area of Nepal. Anecdotal reports of arsenical skin lesions in villagers led us to evaluate arsenic exposure and sequelae in the Semria Ojha Patti village in the Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar, where tube wells replaced dug wells about 20 years ago. Analyses of the arsenic content of 206 tube wells (95% of the total) showed that 56.8% exceeded arsenic concentrations of 50 micro g/L, with 19.9% > 300 micro g/L, the concentration predicting overt arsenical skin lesions. On medical examination of a self-selected sample of 550 (390 adults and 160 children), 13% of the adults and 6.3% of the children had typical skin lesions, an unusually high involvement for children, except in extreme exposures combined with malnutrition. The urine, hair, and nail concentrations of arsenic correlated significantly (r = 0.72-0.77) with drinking water arsenic concentrations up to 1,654 micro g/L. On neurologic examination, arsenic-typical neuropathy was diagnosed in 63% of the adults, a prevalence previously seen only in severe, subacute exposures. We also observed an apparent increase in fetal loss and premature delivery in the women with the highest concentrations of arsenic in their drinking water. The possibility of contaminated groundwater at other sites in the Middle and Upper Ganga Plain merits investigation.

Neuropathy in Arsenic Toxicity from Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in West Bengal, India

Abstract: Large number of people from 9 out of 18 districts of West Bengal, India are endemically exposed to arsenic contaminated groundwater due to drinking of tubewell water containing arsenic level above World Health Organization's maximum permissible limit of 50 microg/L. From our ongoing studies on neurological involvement in patients of arsenicosis from different districts of West Bengal, we report our findings in a total of 451 patients of three districts (Murshidabad, Nadia, and Burdwan), comprising 267 males and 184 females with age ranging from 11 to 79 years. They all had arsenical skin lesions, positive biomarkers and identified source of arsenic contaminated water drinking. Peripheral neuropathy was the predominant neurological complication in these patients affecting 154 (37.3%) of 413 patients of Group 1 and 33 (86.8%) of 38 patients of Group 2. Other possible causes and alternative explanations of neuropathy were excluded. The temporal profile in most of the cases (154 of Group 1) were of chronic affection while the 33 patients of Group 2 developed both neuropathy and dermopathy subacutely. Subacutely affected Group 2 patients had much higher incidence of neuropathy. Paresthesias and pains in the distal parts of extremities were much higher in incidence in Group 2 (73.7% and 23.7% respectively) than in Group 1 (18.4% and 11.1%). Distal limb weakness or atrophy was evident in 7.3% in Group 1 and 10.5% in Group 2. Overall, sensory features were more common than motor features in patients of neuropathy and sensory neuropathy was diagnosed in 30% and 76.3% and sensorimotor in 7.3% and 10.5% respectively in Group 1 and Group 2 subjects. Nerve conduction and electromyographic studies performed in 88 cases revealed dysfunction of sensory nerve in 45% and 27% and of motor nerve in 20% and 16.7% of patients with moderate degree and mild degree of clinical neuropathies respectively. Evoked potential studies performed in 20 patients were largely normal except for two instances each of abnormal visual evoked potential and brainstem auditory evoked potential findings. Prognosis was favorable in mild and early diagnosed cases of neuropathy whereas most of the other more severe and late diagnosed cases showed slow and partial recovery or even deterioration. Outcome in neuropathic patients of arsenicosis and long term toxic neurologic effects yet unexplored and unknown remain as matters of future concern requiring close monitoring.

Arsenic Groundwater Contamination and Sufferings of People in North 24-Parganas, One of the Nine Arsenic Affected Districts of West Bengal, India

Abstract: To understand the magnitude of the arsenic calamity in West Bengal, a detailed study spanning 7 years was made in North 24-Parganas, one of the nine arsenic affected districts. Area and population of North 24-Parganas district are 4093.82 sq. km and 7.3 million, respectively. Fourty eight thousand and thirty water samples were analyzed from hand tubewells of North 24-Parganas in use for drinking, cooking and 29.2% of the tubewells were found to have arsenic above 50 microg/L, the maximum permissible limit of World Health Organization (WHO) and 52.8% have arsenic above 10 microg/L, WHO recommended value of arsenic in drinking water. Out of the 22 blocks of North 24-Parganas, in 20 blocks arsenic has been found above the maximum permissible limit and so far in 16 blocks people have been identified as suffering from arsenical skin lesions. From the generated data, it is estimated that about 2.0 million and 1.0 million people are drinking arsenic contaminated water above 10 microg/L and 50 microg/L level, respectively in North 24-Parganas alone. So far, in our preliminary study 33,000 people have been examined at random from arsenic affected villages in North 24-Parganas and 2274 people have been registered with arsenical skin lesions. Extrapolation of the available data indicates about 0.1 million people may be suffering from arsenical skin lesions from North 24-Parganas alone. A sum of 21,000 hair, nail, and urine samples analyses from arsenic affected villages show 56%, 80%, and 87% people have arsenic in biological specimen more than normal/toxic (hair) level, respectively. Thus, many may be subclinically affected. Due to use of arsenic contaminated groundwater for agricultural irrigation, rice and vegetable are getting arsenic contaminated. Hence there is an additional arsenic burden from food chain. People from arsenic affected villages are also suffering from arsenical neuropathy. A followup study indicates that many of the victims suffering from severe arsenical skin lesions for several years are now suffering from cancer or have already died of cancer.

Pattern of excretion of arsenic compounds [arsenite, arsenate, MMA(V), DMA(V)] in urine of children compared to adults from an arsenic exposed area in Bangladesh.

Abstract: Urinary arsenic is generally considered as the most reliable indicator of recent exposure to inorganic arsenic and is used as the main bio-marker of exposure. However, due to the different toxicity of arsenic compounds, speciation of arsenic in urine is generally considered to be more convenient for health risk assessment than measuring total arsenic concentration. Additionally, it can give valuable information about the metabolism of arsenic species within the body. In our study, for exposed group—42 urine samples were collected from Datterhat (South) village of Madaripur district, Bangladesh and an average arsenic concentration in their drinking water was 376 µg/L (range 118 to 620 µg/L). For control group, 27 urine samples were collected from a non-affected district, Badhadamil village of Medinipur district, West Bengal, India, where arsenic concentration in their drinking water is below 3 µg/L. The arsenic species in the urine were separated and quantified by using HPLC-ICP-MS. The sum of ino...

Arsenic toxicity from homeopathic treatment.

Abstract: Homeopathic medicine is commonly believed to be relatively harmless. However, treatment with improperly used homeopathic preparations may be dangerous. Case Reports. Case 1 presented with melanosis and keratosis following short‐term use of Arsenic Bromide 1‐X followed by long‐term use of other arsenic‐containing homeopathic preparations. Case 2 developed melanotic arsenical skin lesions after taking Arsenicum Sulfuratum Flavum‐1‐X (Arsenic S.F. 1‐X) in an effort to treat his white skin patches. Case 3 consumed Arsenic Bromide 1‐X for 6 days in an effort to treat his diabetes and developed an acute gastrointestinal illness followed by leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and diffuse dermal melanosis with patchy desquamation. Within ∼2 weeks, he developed a toxic polyneuropathy resulting in quadriparesis. Arsenic concentrations in all three patients were significantly elevated in integument tissue samples. In all three cases, arsenic concentrations in drinking water were normal but arsenic concentrations i...

Groundwater arsenic contamination in the Ganga-Padma-Meghna-Brahmaputra plain of India and Bangladesh.

Abstract: magnitude of arsenic groundwater contamination, and its related health effects, in the Ganga-MeghnaBrahmaputra (GMB) plain—an area of 569,749 km2, with a population of over 500 million, which largely comprises the flood plains of 3 major river systems that flow through India and Bangladesh. Design: On the basis of our 17-yr–long study thus far, we report herein the magnitude of groundwater arsenic contamination, its health effects, results of our analyses of biological and food samples, and our investigation into sources of arsenic in the GMB plain Setting: The GMB plain includes the following states in India: Uttar Pradesh in the upper and middle Ganga plain, Bihar and Jharkhand in the middle Ganga plain, West Bengal in the lower Ganga plain, and Assam in the upper Brahmaputra plain. The country of Bangladesh is located in the Padma-Meghna-Brahmaputra plain. In a preliminary study,1 we identified arsenic in water samples from hand-operated tubewells in the GMB plain. Levels in excess of 50 ppb (the permissible limit for arsenic in drinking water in India and Bangladesh) were found in samples from 51 villages in 3 arsenic-affected districts of Uttar Pradesh, 202 villages in 6 districts in Bihar, 11 villages in 1 district in Jharkhand, 3,500 villages in 9 (of a total of 18) districts in West Bengal, 2,000 villages in 50 (of a total of 64) districts in Bangladesh, and 17 villages in 2 districts in Assam. Study Populations: Because, over time, new regions of arsenic contamination have been found, affecting additional populations, the characteristics of our study subjects have varied widely. We feel that, even after working for 17 yr in the GMB plain, we have had only a glimpse of the full extent of the problem. Protocol: Thus far, on the GMB plain, we have analyzed 145,000 tubewell water samples from India and 52,000 from Bangladesh for arsenic contamination. In India, 3,781 villages had arsenic levels above 50 ppb and 5,380 villages had levels exceeding 10 ppb; in Bangladesh, the numbers were 2,000 and 2,450, respectively. We also analyzed 12,954 urine samples, 13,560 hair samples, 13,758 nail samples, and 1,300 skin scale samples from inhabitants of the arsenic-affected villages. Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in the Ganga-Padma-

Groundwater arsenic exposure in India.

Abstract: Publisher Summary A preliminary study on arsenic (As) in dugwells, hand pumps, and spring water was reported from Chandigarh, and different villages of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh in northern India It was reported that people were drinking As-contaminated water High As was found in the liver of those suffering from noncirrhotic portal fibrosis (NCPF) and drinking As-contaminated water About 1,000 people are suspected to be suffering from arsenical skin lesions from the Semria Ojha Patty village of Sahapur police station in Bhojpur district, Bihar, in the middle Ganga Plain The magnitude of the problem in Bhojpur district is unknown Clinical and various laboratory investigations were carried out on 156 patients to ascertain the nature and degree of morbidity and mortality that occurred because of chronic As toxicity in some affected villages All the patients studied had arsenical skin lesions Other features included weakness, gastrointestinal symptoms, and involvement of the respiratory system and the nervous system Lung function tests showed restrictive lung disease, abnormal electromyography, enlargement of the liver, and portal hypertension