Poisoned staple
infected maize has claimed 26 lives in Kenya's Makueni district in April 2004. Six other suspected cases have been admitted to the hospital. Samples of the cereal collected from affected villages have shown the presence of aflatoxins, the chemicals produced when the fungus, Aspergillus flavus, grows on the grain stored in damp conditions. Ulilinza village of Kibwezi division is the worst affected area.
Food shortage in the country has led to the import of maize and the source of the infected cereal is yet to be found. The aflatoxin-fouled maize is adding further to the shortage. Maize is a staple food of the country and is stored by small-scale farmers for consumption throughout the year. Aspergillus is also found commonly on grains grown under stressful conditions, such as drought. Such conditions are a regular feature in the country.
Poisoning by aflatoxins can lead to vomiting, abdominal pain, pulmonary oedema, convulsions, coma and death from the swelling of the brain, the liver, kidneys and the heart. These chemicals have also been linked to liver cancer. Better storage conditions and drying the grain before storage can deter the growth of the fungus that triggers the production of aflatoxin.
The amount of aflatoxin in stored grain in Africa has been found to be much higher than the currently accepted safe limit of 20 parts per billion; high levels are directly correlated with stunted growth in children. A study conducted by researchers from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ghana and the University of Leeds, on 480 children, aged 9 months to 5 years, in four different geographical areas of Benin and Togo has shown that 98 per cent of them had elevated levels of aflatoxin in their blood. These levels increased after weaning. This linked the presence of aflatoxin with maize, which was used as the weaning food. The study was published in the British Medical Journal in 2002. Aflatoxin can also cross the placental barrier and cause genetic defects in developing foetuses.