ReviewPLoS neglected tropical diseases2011
Konzo: from poverty, cassava, and cyanogen intake to toxico-nutritional neurological disease.
Review in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed.
- Poison Apple-like Fruit Ingestion: A Case Report and Review of Manchineel Fruit Toxicity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Review
- Konzo: a nutrition-related tropical spastic paraparesis.BMJ case reports · 2026Article
- Validation of single nucleotide polymorphism markers associated with hydrogen cyanide, total carotenoid and dry matter contents in cassava (Frontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Resveratrol reverses cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) juice-induced motor impairment in the Wistar rat.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Article
- Plant cyanogenic glycosides: from structure to properties and potential applications.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Review
- Glutathione peroxidase 3 is a potential biomarker for konzo.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Rapid analysis of hydrogen cyanide in fresh cassava roots using NIRSand machine learning algorithms: Meeting end user demand for low cyanogenic cassava.The plant genome · 2024Article
- Genetic Variation and Heritability for Hydrogen Cyanide in Fresh Cassava Roots: Implications for Low-Cyanide Cassava Breeding.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Our extended microbiome: The human-relevant metabolites and biology of fermented foods.Cell metabolism · 2024Review
- Fermented foods and gastrointestinal health: underlying mechanisms.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2024Review
- Children's cognitive impairment associated with cassava cyanide in Democratic Republic of the Congo: Burden of disease.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Heavy metals in children's blood from the rural region of Popokabaka, Democratic Republic of Congo: a cross-sectional study and spatial analysis.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Cyanide Content of Cassava Food Products Available in Australia.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockout ofFrontiers in plant science · 2022Article
- Article
- High sink strength prevents photosynthetic down-regulation in cassava grown at elevated CO2 concentration.Journal of experimental botany · 2021Article
- Large-scale genome-wide association study, using historical data, identifies conserved genetic architecture of cyanogenic glucoside content in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) root.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2021Article
- Effects of Cassava Juice (Toxins · 2020Article
- Konzo outbreak in the Western Province of Zambia.Neurology · 2020Article
- Preclinical and clinical research on the toxic and neurological effects of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) consumption.Metabolic brain disease · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Konzo is a distinct neurological entity with selective upper motor neuron damage, characterized by an abrupt onset of an irreversible, non-progressive, and symmetrical spastic para/tetraparesis. Despite its severity, konzo remains a neglected disease. The disease is associated with high dietary cyanogen consumption from insufficiently processed roots of bitter cassava combined with a protein-deficient diet. Epidemics occur when these conditions coincide at times of severe food shortage. Up to 1993, outbreaks in poor rural areas in Africa contributed to more than 3,700 cases of konzo. The number of affected people is underestimated. From unofficial reports, the number of cases was estimated to be at least 100,000 in 2000, in contrast to the 6,788 cases reported up to 2009 from published papers.
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Registered trials
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