Outbreak of Cyanide Poisoning Caused by Consumption of Cassava Flour - Kasese District, Uganda, September 2017

Cassava, an edible tuberous root often made into flour, contains cyanogenic glycosides, which can result in fatal cyanide poisoning if not properly detoxified by soaking, drying, and scraping before being consumed. Acute cassava-associated cyanide poisoning outbreaks are rarely described. In Septemb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Vol. 68; no. 13; pp. 308 - 311
Main Authors Alitubeera, Phoebe H, Eyu, Patricia, Kwesiga, Benon, Ario, Alex R, Zhu, Bao-Ping
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published Atlanta U.S. Center for Disease Control 05.04.2019
Subjects
Cardiac arrhythmia
Cassava
Consumption
Cultivars
Cyanides
Diarrhea
Drying
Emergency medical care
Emergency preparedness
Epidemiology
Fatalities
Flour
Food
Funerals
Glycosides
Health education
Medical laboratories
Outbreaks
Patients
Poisoning
Public health
Scraping
Vomiting
Wholesalers
Tanzania
Uganda
Kampala Uganda
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Summary:Cassava, an edible tuberous root often made into flour, contains cyanogenic glycosides, which can result in fatal cyanide poisoning if not properly detoxified by soaking, drying, and scraping before being consumed. Acute cassava-associated cyanide poisoning outbreaks are rarely described. In September 2017, an outbreak of suspected cyanide poisoning, involving 98 cases with two deaths, occurred in western Uganda. Epidemiologic and laboratory investigation identified consump...tion of a cassava flour dish made from wild cultivars of cassava with high cyanogenic content as the cause of the outbreak. Education of farmers and consumers about the importance of strict adherence to established methods of degrading cyanogenic glycosides in cassava is essential to prevent cyanide poisoning.
ISSN:0149-2195
1545-861X