Citation

Gaillard Y, Carlier J, Berscht M, Mazoyer C, Bevalot F, Guitton J, Fanton L. Forensic Sci. Int. 2011; 206(1-3): e103-7.

Affiliation

LAT-LUMTOX, 800 avenue Marie Curie, 07800 La Voulte sur Rhône, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.01.018

PMID

21324617

Abstract

Between 1998 and 2001 the deaths of 16 Surinamese children were recorded along the Maroni River, which forms the border between Suriname and French Guyana. After a metabolic origin was eliminated, ethnobotanical research in the field led to a hypothesis of intoxication through the ingestion of ackee. Ackee (Blighia sapida) is a large green leafy tree of West African origin. Its unripe fruit contains large quantities of two toxic molecules: hypoglycin-A and hypoglycin-B, the former being the more toxic. We have developed a GC-MS procedure allowing us to demonstrate the presence of hypoglycin-A in the gastric fluid of one of the deceased children, and to compare the content of hypoglycin-A in fruit collected on the road to Paramaribo in Suriname (5.1mg/g) with samples from Burkina Faso (8.1mg/g) and Jamaica (9.2mg/g). Field research showed the misuse of this little-known plant by Maroon witch doctors. The Bushinengue witch doctors were informed about the dangers of ackee, and no new cases have been reported to date.

Language: en