Outbreak Of Acute Hepatitis Caused By Aflatoxin Poisoning In Kenya

Abstract

Between March and early June, 1981, 20 patients with hepatitis, 12 of whom died, were admitted to three hospitals in the Machakos district of Kenya. Two families, from which 8 of 12 sick members, died were eating maize which contained as much as 12 000 parts per billion (p.p.b.) of aflatoxin B1. Liver tissue at necropsy contained up to 89 p.p.b. of this mycotoxin. Probably most or all of the hepatitis cases were caused by acute aflatoxin poisoning.