Arsenic exposure, health effects and biomarker, and treatment of arsenicosis-experience in West Bengal, India

摘要

Epidemiological survey on a population of 0.84 million people suspected to be drinking arsenic contaminated water in Nadia, West Bengal, India, showed arsenical skin lesion in 1,616 patients (15.43%) out of 10,469 participants examined. Other major non cancer health effects were chronic lung disease, polyneuropathy and liver fibrosis. Total individual daily arsenic exposure through water and diet were estimated in participants and correlated with arsenic level in urine in Nadia, where arsenic levels in drinking water, rice and vegetables were elevated. In spite of drinking water with arsenic level <50 μg L~(-1) in 94 subjects, dietary arsenic exposure was high (154 + 83 μg day~(-1)) with raised arsenic level in urine (119 ±116 μg L~(-1)). Objective assessment of skin lesions in a study for three years showed that drinking arsenic safe water increased the probability of regression of skin lesion in subjects with mild lesions, but not in those with more advanced stage disease.