1. METHODS
Survey of Estrogenic Water Contamination in Urban and Rural Areas of Haiti
• Internship and special project took place in Haiti
• Developing country1
• Poorest in the western hemisphere1
• Located at the Caribbean, bordering Dominican Republic1
• Poor public health infrastructure, improper solid waste disposal,
and lacks of governmental regulations
• Most public health outreach effort focused on infectious disease
• Little characterization of chemical contaminants
Due to higher populations levels, improper solid waste disposal, and
lack of waste water treatment, estrogenic chemicals will be higher in
the urban areas of Port-Au-Prince and Carrefour than in the semi
urban area of Gressier.
The completion of this project would not have been achievable
without the support of staff at the Christianville Foundation,
Dave Pittman, Liz Wood, UF Lab at Christianville, and students
of the Hopital Universitaire d'Etat Haiti.
College of Public Health and Health Professions, Department of Environmental and Global Health, Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, University of
Florida, Gainesville, FL
• Samples collected in 1 liter glass bottle
• Samples filtered through glass fiber filter to remove large
particulates
• Samples extracted onto solid phase extraction cartilages
• Cartilages were dried and shipped back to the UF lab
2. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Ho Fei (Thomas) Sit, Arnel Duvet, Lindsey Jackson, Sarah Robinson, Joseph Bisesi
To examine collected data on the presence of estrogenic chemicals in
the water of urban areas (Port-Au-Prince and Carrefour) of Haiti, and
compares to levels previously found in rural areas (Gressier and
Leogane).
OBJECTIVE
Transactivation Assay • 3 plasmids are inserted into HEK
cells
• 2xERE luciferase, ER, Renilla
• Cells exposed to 1:100 and
1:1000 dilutions of samples
• Production of luciferase
measured as indicator of ER
activation
Acknowledgements
References:
1. Central Intelligence Agency. (2016). The World Factbook: Haiti. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html
2. The World Health Organization. (2007). Chemical safety of drinking-water: Assessing priorities for risk management. Retrieved from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43285/1/9789241546768_eng.pdf
RESULTS
The project consists of 2 parts:
•UF Haiti lab in Christianville for total of 6 weeks
•UF Environmental and Human Toxicology lab, also for total of 6 weeks
1. HAITI
• Chemical contamination in water has not been widely studied
in Haiti2
• River sites had consistently higher E2 equivalencies when
compared to well sites
• Result indicated that concentrations in Port-Au-Prince and
Carrefour in 2016 were similar to Gressier in 2015
• Overall, results show low level contamination of surface water
in urban and semi urban areas of Haiti
• Further research is needed to identify contaminants as well as
assess risk to populations
• E2 equivalence of
samples ranged from
0.2 to 6.6 ng/L
• River sites were
consistently higher than
well sites
• E2 equivalence of samples
ranged from 0 to 17 ng/L
• Concentrations in rural vs.
urban were similar
• May indicate that water
source contamination with
estrogenic chemicals is
ubiquitous
Port-Au-Prince and Carrefour
Gressier
• Waterborne contaminants represent a potential health risk
for the Haitian people
• Our hypothesis that estrogenic contaminants in urban areas
would be higher was disproven
• Estrogenic contaminants seem to be ubiquitously present at
low levels in urban and semi-urban areas, warranting further
investigation of potential hazards associated with these
chemicals