Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution at Florida Atlantic University, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Fort Pierce, FL 34946, USA.
Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University 1681 Campus, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014 Jun 26;11(7):6709-26. doi: 10.3390/ijerph110706709.
Mercury exposure through the consumption of fish and shellfish represents a significant public health concern in the United States. Recent research has demonstrated higher seafood consumption and subsequent increased risk of methylmercury exposure among subpopulations living in coastal areas. The identification of high concentrations of total mercury in blood and skin among resident Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), a coastal estuary in Florida, alerted us to a potential public health hazard in the contiguous human population. Therefore, we analyzed hair mercury concentrations of residents living along the IRL and ascertained their sources and patterns of seafood consumption. The total mean mercury concentration for 135 residents was 1.53 ± 1.89 µg/g. The concentration of hair mercury among males (2.02 ± 2.38 µg/g) was significantly higher than that for females (0.96 ± 0.74 µg/g) (p < 0.01). Log transformed hair mercury concentration was significantly associated with the frequency of total seafood consumption (p < 0.01). Individuals who reported consuming seafood once a day or more were 3.71 (95% CI 0.84-16.38) times more likely to have a total hair mercury concentration over 1.0 µg/g, which corresponds approximately to the U.S. EPA reference dose, compared to those who consumed seafood once a week or less. Hair mercury concentration was also significantly higher among individuals who obtained all or most of their seafood from local recreational sources (p < 0.01). The elevated human mercury concentrations mirror the elevated concentrations observed in resident dolphins in the same geographical region. The current study is one of the first to apply the concept of a sentinel animal to a contiguous human population.
通过食用鱼类和贝类而摄入汞，是美国一个重大的公共卫生关注点。最近的研究表明，沿海地区的某些人群有着更高的海鲜食用量，以及随之而来的更高的甲基汞暴露风险。在佛罗里达州的印度河泻湖（IRL），生活着大西洋宽吻海豚（Tursiops truncatus），我们发现其血液和皮肤中的总汞含量很高，这引起了我们对毗邻的人类群体中潜在公共卫生危害的关注。因此，我们分析了居住在 IRL 沿岸的居民的头发汞浓度，并确定了他们的海鲜消费来源和模式。135 名居民的总平均汞浓度为 1.53 ± 1.89 µg/g。男性（2.02 ± 2.38 µg/g）的头发汞浓度明显高于女性（0.96 ± 0.74 µg/g）（p < 0.01）。头发汞浓度经对数转换后与海鲜总消费频率显著相关（p < 0.01）。与每周食用海鲜少于一次的人相比，每天或更多次食用海鲜的人头发总汞浓度超过 1.0 µg/g（约相当于美国环保署的参考剂量）的可能性高出 3.71 倍（95%CI 0.84-16.38）。那些从当地娱乐性渔业中获取全部或大部分海鲜的人，其头发汞浓度也明显更高（p < 0.01）。人类汞浓度的升高与同一地理区域内的居民海豚所观察到的浓度升高相吻合。本研究是将“哨兵动物”概念应用于毗邻人类群体的首批研究之一。
