Association between Arsenic Exposure and Buruli Ulcer (Bu) in the Gold-Mining Communities of Amansie West District

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Buruli ulcer (BU), as the name suggests is an ulcerative skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Due to the high endemicity of BU in communities of the Amansie West District where artisanal mining is common, previous studies have focused on a possible relationship between levels of arsenic in environmental media to BU incidence. Thus far, a correlation has been found between arsenic concentrations in environmental media and growth of M. ulcerans, suggesting a higher BU prevalence in arsenic-rich gold-mining environment. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between arsenic levels in biological samples (i.e. blood and/or urine) and the prevalence of BU, and to determine whether or not differences exist across different BU subject groups (vis-á-vis: old-, new- and non- BU cases) in the gold-mining communities of the Amansie West District. METHODOLOGY: Individuals, male or female, who have been medically diagnosed as having BU, and their non-BU relatives or other healthy individuals living in the Amansie West District were recruited into the study (upon informed consent). Blood and urine samples were collected and analyzed for arsenic levels using an Atomic Absorption Spectro-Photometer (AAS). RESULTS: Arsenic was undetected in all (i.e. blood and urine) samples; below the detection level of the instrument used (≤ 0.01 μg/L). CONCLUSION: Arsenic was undetectable in the blood and urine of neither BU patients nor healthy individuals from the Amansie West District, suggesting that arsenic levels alone may not account for the aetiology of M. ulcerans infection.