Fatal skin disease caused by Aflatoxin
The mysterious disease which has affected 215 people in central Quang Ngai Province's Ba To District was caused by Aflatoxin, a toxin produced by fungus in mouldy rice, The Ministry of Health has concluded.
Last week, experts took samples of rice from families of those infected in Lang Reu Village, where the disease started to rise.
The Deputy Head of the Ministry's Preventive Medicine Department, Phan Trong Lan, says tests showed that 100 percent of those infected in Ba To and Son Ha District ate mouldy rice which was contaminated with the toxin nine times higher than the safe level.
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Lan urged residents not to eat mouldy rice or rice stored for a long time.
The toxic agent causes liver cancer in men, he said.
Health experts also surveyed the residents' rice-eating habits.
The Deputy Head of the Pasteur Nha Trang Institute, Vien Quang Mai, says local awareness of health safety and personal hygiene has been raised.
Residents dried grain before use but storing it in their timber barns did not preserve the rice's quality due to moisture.
The situation is becoming complicated with 11 more cases detected over the past 20 days, according to Le Quang Thich, Deputy Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee.
To prevent the disease spreading, provincial agencies must strengthen supervision to prevent another fatality, says Thich.
Agricultural experts have been asked to give advice on processing and storing rice to local people, he says.
Residents are encouraged to have medical check-ups as soon as symptoms are detected, so that they can have timely treatment.
The disease, which causes skin to peel off feet and palms, was first discovered in the province two years ago.
Son Ha is the third locality hit by the disease, with two infected people reported on February 15.
Twenty-three have died of the disease.