Tag: Konzo
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Cause and Prevention of Konzo
The character of the neurological injury is not clear. The disease onset is associated with high intake of cyanide from a diet of mostly bitter cassava, which is low in protein, particularly sulfur amino acids. These are essential for the detoxification in the body of cyanide to thiocyanate, which is removed in the urine. A…
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Signs and symptoms of Konzo
The onset of paralysis (spastic paraparesis) is sudden and symmetrical and affects the legs more than the arms. The resulting disability is permanent but does not progress. Typically, a patient is standing and walking on the balls of the feet with rigid legs and often with ankle clonus. Initially, most patients experience generalized weakness during the first…
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Differential diagnoses for Konzo are lathyrism and paraparesis apparently caused by geographical location or bad genes…go figure
The clinical symptoms are strikingly similar to those of lathyrism and also similar to tropical spastic paraparesis and hereditary spastic paraparesis, only that the latter two disorders have a slow onset. Konzo is distinct from polio which is a flaccid paralysis and most often affects a person asymmetrically.[citation needed] Konzo is one of several tropical neuropathies. A distinct myeloneuropathy also associated to cyanogen intake from cassava is tropical ataxic…
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Konzo is an epidemic paralytic disease reportedly from simultaneous malnutrition and high dietary cyanide intake
Konzo is an epidemic paralytic disease occurring among hunger-stricken rural populations in Africa where a diet dominated by insufficiently processed cassava results in simultaneous malnutrition and high dietary cyanide intake. Konzo was first described by Giovanni Trolli in 1938 who compiled the observations from eight doctors working in the Kwango area of the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). “Konzo” means “tied legs” in…
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Lysine Tyrosylquinone (LTQ)
LTQ does not have a wikipedia page so I will check elsewhere. In the meantime, I found another reason to just say no to beans – osteolathyrism aka odoratism, which is a form of the disease Lathyrism. Wikipedia says: The disease results from the ingestion of Lathyrus odoratus seeds (sweet peas) from the family Fabaceae (legumes). The toxin found in the sweet peas is…
