Neurological Status Disturbances Caused by Mercury Exposures from Artisanal Gold Mining Area in West Aceh, Aceh Province

Abstract

Abstract-Artisanal gold mining activities in developing countries are still in concern with environmental and health issues regarding the impact which results from the activities. Amalgamation technique using mercury was commonly applied in extracting gold from the ore. During the process, mercury releases into the environment in its metallic form and mercury vapor. Mercury releases to environment can harm population who work or live near mining area. Mercury is a highly toxic metal and it can penetrate nervous systems as the main target organ. Acute and chronic neurological disturbances can also be experienced by the communities. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between occupation in the mining process, length of time of mercury exposure and neurological status disturbances in communities near artisanal gold mining area in West Aceh, and is known now as Aceh Jaya district, Aceh Province, Indonesia. A cross sectional design was conducted with 78 respondents who lived in villages namely, Paya Seumantok, Panggong, and Curek. Samples were collected by random sampling and respondents were interviewed and given general physical examination. Data were analyzed by Chi-Square test at α = 0.05. The results of this study showed that occupation in mining process has relationship with neurological status disturbances (p=0.004) whereas length of time of mercury exposure showed no relationship to neurological status disturbances (p=0.650). Respondents have experienced neurological disturbances such as headache (48.7%), insomnia (37.2 %), tremor (10.3%), memory loss and mood changes (9.0%), hearing impairment and somatosensory disturbances (3.8%). It can be concluded that efforts for monitoring and evaluation on artisanal gold mining in the areas have to be made by local government and stakeholders to prevent widespread of epidemy on mercury disasters. It is also needed to follow up the neurological status disturbances of the respondents clinically through intensive examination.

Description of Mercury Poison Clinical Symptoms in Workers and Communities Around the Small-Scale Gold Processing Area

“…Acute neurological disorders consist of headache, hearing loss, loss of smell sense, somatosensory disturbances, dysarthria, and sometimes unstable emotions. In addition, chronic neurological disorders consist of tremor, cerebral ataxia, numbness from lips, hands, and fingers, memory loss, somatosensory disturbances, visual disturbances, and insomnia [8]. The questionnaire lists the symptoms commonly associated with mercury exposure.…”

“…In addition, symptoms of acute and chronic poisoning can also appear in the form of headaches, muscle cramps, coughs, and aphthous ulcers. Acute toxicity includes mood swings, headache, hearing loss, speech disturbance (dysarthria), while chronic toxicity is detected, for example, tremor, cerebral ataxia, decreased hearing and vision, tingling mouth to hand, impaired memory, impaired sensation, and insomnia [7,8]. From the observations, it is known that gold processing activities carried out in Paya Seumantok Village are still traditional and use amalgamation technique which is using mercury in the processing process, besides that the workers in this traditional gold processing area do not use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when working, thereby it multiplies the risk of exposure to mercury.…”

Hubungan Pajanan Merkuri Dengan Gejala Neurologis Pada Penambang Emas Tradisional Di Kecamatan Mantikulore Kota Palu

“…Sedangkan gangguan neurologis kronis yang dialami adalah gangguan insomnia 29(37,2%) responden, tremor 8(10,3%), kehilangan memori 7(9,0%), dan gangguan somatosensori 3(3,8%). 2 Sebuah penelitian menjelaskan bahwa 26,7% orang melebihi dosis referensi Badan Perlindungan Lingkungan Amerika Serikat (USEPA) sebesar 1,2 g/g−1. Kadar Hg pada beberapa sampel rambut wanita juga melebihi NOAEL (10 g g−1) yang terkait dengan neurotoksisitas janin.…”

“…Karena Hg di rambut biasanya didominasi oleh spesies MeHg. 2 Gejala lain neurologis yang dialami oleh penambang yaitu tremor, gangguan penglihatan, refleks lambat, kekakuan tidak seimbang dan ataksia. 3 Perubahan warna gusi berjumlah 34% dari 68%,6 % Gangguan neurologis yang tertinggi adalah adanya perubahan warna gusi sebanyak 34% dari 68,6% pengrajin emas.…”

“…Berbeda dengan penelitian Sofia bahwa masa kerja tidak memiliki hubungan signifikan (p-value >α=0,05) dengan gejala neurologis dimana penambang yang mengalami gejala neurologis akut dengan masa kerja >5 tahun 6(16%) dan masa kerja ≤5 tahun 9(22%), responden yang mengalami gejala neurologis kronik dengan masa kerja kerja >5 tahun 20(54%) dan ≤5 tahun 18(44%), sedangkan responden yang tidak mengalami gejala neurologis dengan masa kerja >5 tahun 11(30%) dan masa kerja ≤5 tahun 14(34%). 2 Hal disebabkan jumlah masa kerja >5 tahun yang mengalami gejala neurologis lebih sedikit dibanding masa kerja ≤5 tahun.…”