Mercury exposure and malaria prevalence among gold miners in Pará, Brazil.
Economic development, including resource extraction, can cause toxic exposures that interact with endemic infectious diseases. Mercury is an immunotoxic metal used in the amalgamation of gold, resulting in both occupational exposures and environmental pollution. A cross-sectional medical survey was conducted in 1997 on 135 garimpeiros in Para, Brazil, because of their risks of both mercury exposure and malaria transmission. Mean levels of blood and urine mercury were well above non-exposed background levels. Twenty-six subjects had malaria parasitemia: Health symptoms consistent with mercury exposure were reported, but neither symptoms nor signs correlated with mercury levels in blood or urine. We did not find a dose response relationship between mercury exposure and likelihood of prevalent malaria infection, but there was a possible reduction in acquisition of immunity that may be associated with conditions in gold mining, including mercury exposure.
Silbergeld
Ellen K
EK
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. esilberg@jhsph.edu
Nash
Denis
D
Trevant
Circey
C
Strickland
G Thomas
GT
de Souza
Jose Maria
JM
da Silva
Rui S U
RS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006046:Gold; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D008875:Middle Aged; D008906:Mining / Q000379:methods*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015995:Prevalence
D006046:Gold; D008628:Mercury