Signs and symptoms of mercury-exposed gold miners

Blüml, Stephan; Bernaudat, Ludovic; Siebert, Uwe; Roider, Gabriele; Nowak, Dennis; Drasch, G.

doi:10.13075/ijomeh.1896.00715

Cited by 28 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(42 reference statements)

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“…Hg appears in the environment in three general forms: elemental, inorganic, and organic. Humans are primarily exposed through the consumption of fish that have high levels of methylmercury (MeHg), an organic form of Hg that is the most toxic [2][3][4][5][6]. While the central nervous and renal systems are the main systems that are affected by mercury exposure, effects on the female reproductive system have also been found [7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015

Díaz¹,

Palma²,

Muñoz³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Women are primarily exposed to mercury through the consumption of fish contaminated by gold mining activities. The main systems affected are the central nervous and renal systems, although effects on the reproductive system have also been found. Objective: To explore the relationship between mercury levels in women and their possible sources of contamination. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2013 to 2015 with women residing in 11 municipalities in La Mojana, Colombia, using non-random sampling. Standardized instruments were used to identify sociodemographic characteristics, mercury use, mining-related activities, water and fish consumption, and other factors. Blood, urine, and hair samples were taken to quantify mercury levels. A logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with elevated mercury values in the participants’ samples. A total of 428 women were included, with an average age of 36.7 ± 16.7 years, 3.3% of whom were pregnant at the time of the survey and 8.4% of whom were exposed occupationally. High levels of mercury were present in 62.8% of the women, in any one of the three samples processed. Those exposed occupationally and environmentally had similar values (p = 0.821). Frequency of fish consumption and source of drinking water were associated with higher levels of mercury (p < 0.05).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015

Díaz¹,

Palma²,

Muñoz³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic heavy metal; acute as well as chronic intoxication can occur. It accumulates in the body over time and can cause severe damage to kidneys and neural tissues [ 1 – 3 ]. A recent study determined the severity of chronic mercury intoxication in terms of disability weights and found the most severe case of intoxication to be more serious than severe depression and quadriplegia [ 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of N,N‘bis-(2-mercaptoethyl) isophthalamide on mercury intoxication: a randomized controlled trial

Schutzmeier

Baquerizo²,

Castillo-Tandazo³

et al. 2018

Environ Health

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BackgroundChronic mercury intoxication is a severe health issue and occurs especially in gold mining communities. Common chelators used for improving mercury elimination are not everywhere available and challenged by poor cell wall penetration. This study is part of a feasibility trial and the aim was to gather first information about the efficacy of the newly developed chelator N,N‘bis-(2-mercaptoethyl) isophthalamide (NBMI) on chronic mercury intoxication.MethodsIn this three-armed, placebo-controlled randomized trial, 36 miners with mercury urine levels exceeding 15 μg/l were administered 100 mg NBMI, 300 mg NBMI or placebo for 14 days. Levels of mercury in urine [μg/l and μg/g creatinine] and plasma l were analyzed. Therapeutic effect was assessed using the medical intoxication score (MIS) and its single health outcomes (e.g. excessive salivation, sleeping problems), fatigue scores, a neuromotoric test battery (CATSYS) and a neurological outcome (Finger to nose test).ResultsPhysical fatigue was significantly decreased in the 300 mg NBMI group compared to the control. Mercury concentration in urine following 300 mg NBMI treatment was significantly lowered compared to control, however, this effect was less distinct with adjustment for creatinine.ConclusionNBMI showed an effect on physical fatigue and there were indications to positive effects on other symptoms as well. More comprehensive studies are mandatory to verify the effects of NBMI as a novel tool for treating mercury intoxications.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02486289. Date of registration: June 24, 2015.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12940-018-0358-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Exposed groups showed poorer results in different neuropsychological tests. Over half of amalgam burners (workers with highest mercury levels as a group) were found to have symptoms of mercury intoxication (Bose-O'Reilly et al, 2017), and a large proportion of small-scale gold miners have mercury exposures above occupational exposure limits (Tomicic et al, 2011;Gibb and O'Leary, 2014;Steckling et al, 2014;Mensah et al, 2016).…”

Section: Health Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Health Research in Africa: Important Progress and Promising Opportunities

Joubert

Mantooth²,

McAllister

2020

Front. Genet.

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The World Health Organization in 2016 estimated that over 20% of the global disease burden and deaths were attributed to modifiable environmental factors. However, data clearly characterizing the impact of environmental exposures and health endpoints in African populations is limited. To describe recent progress and identify important research gaps, we reviewed literature on environmental health research in African populations over the last decade, as well as research incorporating both genomic and environmental factors. We queried PubMed for peer-reviewed research articles, reviews, or books examining environmental exposures and health outcomes in human populations in Africa. Searches utilized medical subheading (MeSH) terms for environmental exposure categories listed in the March 2018 US National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, which includes chemicals with worldwide distributions. Our search strategy retrieved 540 relevant publications, with studies evaluating health impacts of ambient air pollution (n=105), indoor air pollution (n = 166), heavy metals (n = 130), pesticides (n = 95), dietary mold (n = 61), indoor mold (n = 9), per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs, n = 0), electronic waste (n = 9), environmental phenols (n = 4), flame retardants (n = 8), and phthalates (n = 3), where publications could belong to more than one exposure category. Only 23 publications characterized both environmental and genomic risk factors. Cardiovascular and respiratory health endpoints impacted by air pollution were comparable to observations in other countries. Air pollution exposures unique to Africa and some other resource limited settings were dust and specific occupational exposures. Literature describing harmful health effects of metals, pesticides, and dietary mold represented a context unique to Africa. Studies of exposures to phthalates, PFASs, phenols, and flame retardants were very limited. These results underscore the need for further focus on current and emerging environmental and chemical health risks as well as better integration of genomic and environmental factors in African research studies. Environmental exposures with distinct routes of exposure, unique co-exposures and co-morbidities, combined with the extensive genomic diversity in Africa may lead to the identification of novel mechanisms underlying complex disease and promising potential for translation to global public health.

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Signs and symptoms of mercury-exposed gold miners

Cited by 28 publications

References 40 publications

Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015

Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015

Efficacy of N,N‘bis-(2-mercaptoethyl) isophthalamide on mercury intoxication: a randomized controlled trial

Environmental Health Research in Africa: Important Progress and Promising Opportunities

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