Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Apr 23;24(1):23.
doi: 10.1186/s12199-019-0781-0.

Peripheral neuropathy induced by drinking water contaminated with low-dose arsenic in Myanmar

Hitoshi Mochizuki  1 , Khin Phyu Phyu  2 , Myo Nanda Aung  2 , Phyo Wai Zin  2 , Yasunori Yano  3 , Moe Zaw Myint  4 , Win Min Thit  4 , Yuka Yamamoto  5 , Yoshitaka Hishikawa  6 , Kyaw Zin Thant  2 , Masugi Maruyama  7 , Yoshiki Kuroda  5
Affiliations

Peripheral neuropathy induced by drinking water contaminated with low-dose arsenic in Myanmar

Hitoshi Mochizuki et al. Environ Health Prev Med. .

Abstract

Background: More than 140 million people drink arsenic-contaminated groundwater. It is unknown how much arsenic exposure is necessary to cause neurological impairment. Here, we evaluate the relationship between neurological impairments and the arsenic concentration in drinking water (ACDW).

Participants and methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. We performed medical examinations of 1867 residents in seven villages in the Thabaung township in Myanmar. Medical examinations consisted of interviews regarding subjective neurological symptoms and objective neurological examinations of sensory disturbances. For subjective neurological symptoms, we ascertained the presence or absence of defects in smell, vision, taste, and hearing; the feeling of weakness; and chronic numbness or pain. For objective sensory disturbances, we examined defects in pain sensation, vibration sensation, and two-point discrimination. We analyzed the relationship between the subjective symptoms, objective sensory disturbances, and ACDW.

Results: Residents with ACDW ≥ 10 parts per billion (ppb) had experienced a "feeling of weakness" and "chronic numbness or pain" significantly more often than those with ACDW < 10 ppb. Residents with ACDW ≥ 50 ppb had three types of sensory disturbances significantly more often than those with ACDW < 50 ppb. In children, there was no significant association between symptoms or signs and ACDW.

Conclusion: Subjective symptoms, probably due to peripheral neuropathy, occurred at very low ACDW (around 10 ppb). Objective peripheral nerve disturbances of both small and large fibers occurred at low ACDW (> 50 ppb). These data suggest a threshold for the occurrence of peripheral neuropathy due to arsenic exposure, and indicate that the arsenic concentration in drinking water should be less than 10 ppb to ensure human health.

Keywords: Arsenic; Groundwater; Peripheral neuropathy; Pollution; Sensory disturbance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Miyazaki (approval number: 2016-069) and was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A map of Myanmar. The Thaboung and Kyonpyaw townships are indicated by square boxes. The location of the seven villages is indicated by an ellipse (dashed line)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rehman K, Fatima F, Waheed I, Akash MSH. Prevalence of exposure of heavy metals and their impact on health consequences. J Cell Biochem. 2018;119:157–184. doi: 10.1002/jcb.26234. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Singh R, Singh S, Parihar P, Singh VP, Prasad SM. Arsenic contamination, consequences and remediation techniques: a review. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2015;112:247–270. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2014.10.009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ravenscroft P, Brammer H, Richards K. Arsenic pollution—a global synthesis-Peter Ravenscroft Hugh Brammer-140518602X-Wiley Blackw. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell; 2009.
    1. Jaishankar M, Tseten T, Anbalagan N, Mathew BB, Beeregowda KN. Toxicity, mechanism and health effects of some heavy metals. Interdiscip Toxicol. 2014;7:60–72. doi: 10.2478/intox-2014-0009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang D, Shimoda Y, Wang S, Wang Z, Liu J, Liu X, et al. Total arsenic and speciation analysis of saliva and urine samples from individuals living in a chronic arsenicosis area in China. Environ Health Prev Med. 2017;22:45. doi: 10.1186/s12199-017-0652-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

Grants and funding