A dugwell program to provide arsenic-safe water in West Bengal, India: preliminary results.

In 1982, Dr. K. C. Saha, a dermatologist of Calcutta, West Bengal, identified patients with skin lesions from the district of 24 Parganas, leading him and others to search for a cause. The cause was soon identified to be arsenic in drinking water, but even today, 20 years later, large number of people continue to drink arsenic contaminated water and patients are increasing in number. Project Well is a program chosen for implementation in some villages of North 24 Parganas. Arsenic safe drinking water is provided for adopted villages by constructing shallow, concrete dugwells designed to tap the water of the unconfined aquifer, 20-30 feet below ground level, that contains low levels (< 0.05 mg/L) of arsenic in the target region. The traditional dugwell design is modified by use of tube well hand pumps to withdraw water. The project includes community involvement, programs to increase awareness of the need to drink arsenic safe water, and training in monitoring of dugwell water for arsenic and harmful pathogens. Disinfecting of the water and regulating the water hazard diagram are also included in the training program. The plan is to make the system sustainable at the village level using indigenous labor and materials.

Unusual presentation of schwannoma.

Schwannomas are slow growing benign tumours arising from the nerve sheath. Two cases of schwannoma arising from the vagus nerve are presented here. One case was found in a 6-year-old boy and another one in a 30-year-old man. In the first case the tumour was detected on the left side of the neck just below the angle of the mandible, and in the second case it was found on the lower part of the right side of the neck. Histopathology confirmed the diagnosis as first one to be of Antoni-A type and the second one to be of Antoni-B type. Both the tumours were excised and on follow-up the patients were doing well.