Correlation Of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy With Fluorescent Organic Compounds In Shallow Groundwater

Abstract

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a disease of intersitial nephropathy leading to end-stage renal failure. The disease occurs in persons living in villages on alluvial valleys of streams tributary to the Danube River in Rumania, Bulgaria and former Yugoslavia. The etiologic agent is not known, but a contaminant in shallow groundwater has become suspect. In this study, samples of drinking water from endemic and non-endemic village water supplies were analyzed by excitation/emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy. Spectra characteristic of groundwater from BEN households show elongated teardrop shapes in the fluorescence excitation/emission matrix. A sharp rise occurs in fluorescence emission between 380 and 400 nanometers (nm) and a trailing emission intensity from 400 to 550 nm. Spectra of groundwater samples from some BEN households have an additional excitation maxima at 300 nm, which further contributes to the emission intensity at 400 nm.