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American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 83, Issue 4 540-545, Copyright © 1993 by American Public Health Association

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A new approach to combatting iodine deficiency in developing countries: the controlled release of iodine in water by a silicone elastomer.

A Fisch, E Pichard, T Prazuck, R Sebbag, G Torres, G Gernez and M Gentilini

Services des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales (GEEP), Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France.

OBJECTIVES. Four hundred million people or more may be exposed to iodine deficiency worldwide, in developing countries in particular. Because of the practical problems with existing methods for the large-scale prevention of iodine deficiency, the authors developed a new approach to collective prophylaxis. METHODS. This approach relies on the controlled diffusion of iodine into water from a silicone elastomer. Silicone matrices installed in a bore well released iodine at a rate sufficient to permit the daily per capita intake of at least 100 micrograms of iodine, the amount recommended by the World Health Organization. The matrices were tested over 1 year in a village in Mali, West Africa, an area in which goiter was highly endemic. The effects on the well water and population were compared with those of a placebo system in a control village. RESULTS. An increase in urinary iodine levels was observed in the treated population, and after 12 months the incidence of goiter had fallen from 53.2% to 29.2%. CONCLUSIONS. This new concept, adaptable to all sources of water supply, may contribute to the eradication of iodine deficiency.


Related articles in AJPH:

The control of iodine deficiency.
B S Hetzel
AJPH 1993 83: 494-495. [PDF]  

Combatting iodine deficiency: the iodization of water in the Central African Republic.
D Yazipo, L F Ngaindiro, L Namboua, J Ndoyo, E Pichard, L Barrière-Constantin, and P Bourdoux
AJPH 1995 85: 732. [PDF]  





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Copyright © 1993 by the American Public Health Association