In October 1988, 13 Chinese children died of acute hepatic encephalopathy in the northwestern state of Perak in peninsular Malaysia. The acuteness of the illness differed from previously reported outbreaks described in Kenya, India, and Thailand. Epidemiologic investigations determined that the children had eaten a Chinese noodle, loh see fun, hours before they died. The attack rates among those who had eaten the noodles were significantly higher than those who had not (P < 0.0001). The cases were geographically scattered in six towns in two districts along the route of distribution of the noodle supplied by one factory in Kampar town. Aflatoxins were confirmed in postmortem samples from patients. This outbreak has important public health implications for many developing countries.
An outbreak of food poisoning resulting in 13 deaths in children occurred in Malaysia during the Chinese Festival of the Nine-Emperor Gods in 1988. The offending food was a Chinese noodle called 'Loh See Fun' (LSF). The source was traced to a factory where a banned food preservative was added to make the LSF. The food poisoning was attributable to aflatoxins and boric acid. The clinical features included vomiting, pyrexia, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, anorexia, giddiness, seizures, and eventual coma. Initially, many presented with a Reye-like syndrome. Eleven post-mortem examinations were performed. The pathological findings included extensive coagulative necrosis of the liver with proliferative 'ductal/ductular metaplasia of the hepatocytes'. Giant cell formation, central vein sclerosis, bile stasis, and steatosis were also noted. There was presence of acute tubular necrosis, superficial upper gastrointestinal erosions, and ensuing encephalopathy. The eventual cause of death is acute hepatic and renal failure.
Mycotoxin toxicity occurs at very low concentrations, therefore sensitive and reliable methods for their detection are required. Consequently, sampling and analysis of mycotoxins is of critical importance because failure to achieve a suitable verified analysis can lead to unacceptable consignments being accepted or satisfactory shipments unnecessarily rejected. The general mycotoxin analyses carried out in laboratories are still based on physicochemical methods, which are continually improved. Further research in mycotoxin analysis has been established in such techniques as screening methods with TLC, GC, HPLC, and LC-MS. In some areas of mycotoxin method development, immunoaffinity columns and multifunctional columns are good choices as cleanup methods. They are appropriate to displace conventional liquid-liquid partitioning or column chromatography cleanup. On the other hand, the need for rapid yes/no decisions for exported or imported products has led to a number of new screening methods, mainly, rapid and easy-to-use test kits based on immuno-analytical principles. In view of the fact that analytical methods for detecting mycotoxins have become more prevalent, sensitive, and specific, surveillance of foods for mycotoxin contamination has become more commonplace. Reliability of methods and well-defined performance characteristics are essential for method validation. This article covers some of the latest activities and progress in qualitative and quantitative mycotoxin analysis.
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1 ) is considered as the most toxic food contaminant, and microorganisms, especially bacteria, have been studied for their potential to reduce the bioavailability of mycotoxins including aflatoxins. Therefore, this research investigated the efficacy of oral administration of Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) in aflatoxin-induced rats.
The use of probiotic as dietary approach to prevent exposure to food contaminant, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) has greatly increased. Several studies found that AFB1 binding to the bacterial cell wall is strain-specific. Moreover, the interaction between AFB1 and bacterial cell wall is not well-understood, thus warrants further investigation. This research was conducted to assess the ability of Lactobacillus casei Shirota (Lcs) to bind AFB1 at different concentrations and to determine AFB1 binding efficiency of different Lcs cell components including live cell, heat-treated, and cell wall. In addition, the interaction between AFB1 and Lcs was also evaluated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and through an animal study. The binding of AFB1 by all Lcs cell components depends on the concentration of available AFB1. Among all Lcs cell components, the live Lcs cells exhibited the highest binding efficiency (98%) toward AFB1. Besides, the SEM micrographs showed that AFB1 induced structural changes on the bacterial cell surface and morphology including rough and irregular surface along with a curve rod-shaped. In vivo experiment revealed that Lcs is capable to neutralize the toxicity of AFB1 on body weight and intestine through the binding process. The animal's growth was stunted due to AFB1 exposure, however, such effect was significantly (p < 0.05) alleviated by Lcs. This phenomenon can be explained by a significant (p < 0.05) decreased level of blood serum AFB1 by Lcs (49.6 ± 8.05 ng/mL) compared to AFB1-exposed rats without treatment (88.12 ± 10.65 ng/mL). Taken together, this study highlights the potential use of Lcs as a preventive agent against aflatoxicosis via its strong binding capability.
The secondary metabolites produced by fungi known as mycotoxins, are capable of causing mycotoxicosis (diseases and death) in human and animals. Contamination of feedstuffs as well as food commodities by fungi occurs frequently in a natural manner and is accompanied by the presence of mycotoxins. The occurrence of mycotoxins' contamination is further stimulated by the on-going global warming as reflected in some findings. This review comprehensively discussed the role of mycotoxins (trichothecenes, zearalenone, fumonisins, ochratoxins, and aflatoxins) toward gut health and gut microbiota. Certainly, mycotoxins cause perturbation in the gut, particularly in the intestinal epithelial. Recent insights have generated an entirely new perspective where there is a bi-directional relationship exists between mycotoxins and gut microbiota, thus suggesting that our gut microbiota might be involved in the development of mycotoxicosis. The bacteria-xenobiotic interplay for the host is highlighted in this review article. It is now well established that a healthy gut microbiota is largely responsible for the overall health of the host. Findings revealed that the gut microbiota is capable of eliminating mycotoxin from the host naturally, provided that the host is healthy with a balance gut microbiota. Moreover, mycotoxins have been demonstrated for modulation of gut microbiota composition, and such alteration in gut microbiota can be observed up to species level in some of the studies. Most, if not all, of the reported effects of mycotoxins, are negative in terms of intestinal health, where beneficial bacteria are eliminated accompanied by an increase of the gut pathogen. The interactions between gut microbiota and mycotoxins have a significant role in the development of mycotoxicosis, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma. Such knowledge potentially drives the development of novel and innovative strategies for the prevention and therapy of mycotoxin contamination and mycotoxicosis.