BACKGROUND Presentation with a firm type of chronic hepatomegaly of multifactorial etiology is common among school-age children in sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVE Aflatoxin is a liver toxin and carcinogen contaminating staple maize food. In this study we examined its role in chronic hepatomegaly. METHODS Plasma samples collected in 2002 and again in 2004 from 218 children attending two school...

The association between aflatoxin exposure and alteration in immune responses observed in humans suggest that aflatoxin could suppress the immune system and work synergistically with HIV to increase disease severity and progression to AIDS. No longitudinal study has been conducted to assess exposure to aflatoxin (AF) among HIV positive individuals. We examined temporal variation in AFB₁ albumin...

The relative contribution of, and possible mechanism of interaction between, aflatoxin and hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the development of primary hepatocellular carcinoma can be better investigated now that markers of individual exposure to both factors are available. In this study, blood samples were collected over a 1-month period from 117 children aged 3 to 4 years, resident in Kuntair or Ker...

the effect of ascorbic acid (aa) and butylated hydroxyanisole (bha) supplementation on aflatoxicosis in broiler chickens (1 to 42 days of age) was investigated (250, 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm for aa and bha) in diet containing 1 ppm total aflatoxin (af: 76.45% afb1, 10.52% afb2, 9.89% afg1 and 3.14% afg2). a total of 300 day-old broiler chicks were divided into ten treatment groups (t1=control; t2...

The effect of ascorbic acid (AA) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) supplementation on aflatoxicosis in broiler chickens (1 to 42 days of age) was investigated (250, 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm for AA and BHA) in diet containing 1 ppm total aflatoxin (AF: 76.45% AFB1, 10.52% AFB2, 9.89% AFG1 and 3.14% AFG2). A total of 300 day-old broiler chicks were divided into ten treatment groups (T1=control; T2...

studies have shown that aflatoxin is immunosuppressive and its ingestion in feed has resulted in decreased immunity in vaccinated birds .therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of sodium bentonite (sb) and esterified glucomannan (e-gm) of yeast cell wall, in counteracting the toxic effects of aflatoxin (af) on immunization against infectious bursal disease (ibd...

AIMS The objective of this study was to determine if acetosyringone affected the expression of aflatoxin biosynthetic genes. METHODS AND RESULTS Two genes, nor1 and ver1, representing genes whose products are involved in early and late steps in aflatoxin biosynthesis, were examined. Two GUS (beta-glucuronidase) reporter constructs, nor1:GUS (pGAP12) and ver1:GUS (pGAP13), were used to study t...

BACKGROUND Dietary exposure to high levels of the fungal toxin, aflatoxin, occurs in West Africa, where long-term crop storage facilitates fungal growth. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study in Benin and Togo to investigate aflatoxin exposure in children around the time of weaning and correlated these data with food consumption, socioeconomic status, agro-ecological zone of residence,...

Thirty-two crossbred (Suffolk x Rambouillet) wether lambs were used to examine the effectiveness of protein source (soybean meal [SBM] or fish meal [FM]) in alleviating decreased performance associated with dietary aflatoxin (AF) in growing lambs. After a 21-d adaptation period to concentrate diets, lambs were assigned to the following dietary treatments: 1) SBM, 0 mg of AF; 2) FM, 0 mg of AF; ...

A farm of two broiler flocks fed from one day old to 56 days of age a diet naturally contaminated with high level of Aflatoxin (AF), were suffered from caecal coccidiosis at 35 days of age Aflatoxin levels in feed commodities and mixed feed were determined using ELISA test. Results of ELISA showed that the average level of corn, soybean and mixed feeds contamination with aflatoxin were 1915, pp...