Servicios de Laborotorio de Diagnostico e Investigcion en Salud, La Paz, Bolivia.
Int J Environ Health Res. 2009 Aug;19(4):267-77. doi: 10.1080/09603120802559342.
Methylmercury exposure in Amazonian communities through fish consumption has been widely documented in Brazil. There is still a lack of data in other Amazonian countries, which is why we conducted this study in the Bolivian Amazon basin. Simple random sampling was used from a small village located in the lower Beni River, where there is intense gold mining and high fish consumption. All participants were interviewed and hair samples were taken to measure total mercury concentrations. The hair mercury geometric mean in the general population was 3.02 microg/g (CI: 2.69-3.37; range: 0.42-15.65). Age and gender were not directly associated with mercury levels. Fish consumption showed a positive relation and so did occupation, especially small-scale gold mining. Hair mercury levels were lower than those found in Brazilian studies, but still higher than in non-exposed populations. It is necessary to assess mercury exposure in the Amazonian regions where data is still lacking, using a standardized indicator.
在巴西，通过鱼类消费摄入甲基汞在亚马逊地区的社区中已被广泛记录。在其他亚马逊国家，仍然缺乏数据，这就是为什么我们在玻利维亚亚马逊流域进行这项研究的原因。我们采用简单随机抽样法，从贝尼河下游的一个小村庄抽取样本，那里有强烈的金矿开采和高鱼类消费。对所有参与者进行了访谈并采集了头发样本，以测量总汞浓度。一般人群的头发汞几何平均值为 3.02μg/g（CI：2.69-3.37；范围：0.42-15.65）。年龄和性别与汞含量没有直接关系。鱼类消费呈正相关，职业也是如此，尤其是小规模的金矿开采。头发中的汞含量低于巴西研究中发现的水平，但仍高于未接触人群。有必要使用标准化指标来评估在数据仍然缺乏的亚马逊地区的汞暴露情况。
