Severe Disease Burden and the Mitigation Strategy in the Arsenic-Exposed Population of Kaliprasad Village in Bhagalpur District of Bihar, India
Arun Kumar (Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Centre)
Kanhaiya Kumar (Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Centre)
Mohammad Ali (Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Centre)
Vivek Raj (Patna Women’s College)
Abhinav Srivastava (Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Centre)
Manishankar Kumar (UPES University)
Pintoo Kumar Niraj (Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Centre)
Mukesh Kumar (Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Centre)
Santosh Kumar (TU Delft - Applied Geology)
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Abstract
The present study was carried out in the village Kaliprasad of Bhagalpur district of Bihar to know the arsenic exposure effect in the exposed population. A total of n = 102 households were studied, and their water and biological samples such as urine and hair were collected and analyzed in a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GF-AAS). The assessment of arsenic-exposed village population reveals that the villagers were suffering from serious health-related problems such as skin manifestations (hyperkeratosis and melanosis in their palm and soles), breathlessness, general body weakness, mental disorders, diabetes, hypertension (raised blood pressure), hormonal imbalance, neurological disorders, and few cancer cases. About 77% of household hand pump water had arsenic level more than the WHO recommended level of 10 µg/L, with highest level of 523 µg/L. Moreover, in 60% individual’s urine samples, arsenic concentration was very high with maximum 374 µg/L while in hair 64% individuals had arsenic concentration above the permissible limit with maximum arsenic concentration of 11,398 µg/kg. The hazard quotient (HQ) was also calculated to know the arsenic risk percentage in children as 87.11%, in females as 83.15%, and in males as 82.27% by groundwater. This has surpassed the threshold value of 1 × 10 - 6 for carcinogenic risk (CR) in children, female, and male population group in the village. Hence, the exposed population of Kaliprasad village are at very high risk of the disease burden.