This disease, he said, particularly affects children and adolescents aged 4 to 18 years. Many children are paralyzed and abandoned to their plight, he lamented. Many families are plunged into distress because of this situation.
The Feshi Hospital Center which is not well equipped, is not able to take care of these many cases of Konzo, he said. Professor Masaki makes a strong appeal to the provincial and national authorities and partners of the DRC to come to the rescue of the population of Feshi, a landlocked and very difficult to access. Feshi is located 385 km from Kenge, capital of the Kwango province and more than 700 km from Kinshasa, DRC capital.
Konzo is a disease that attacks the lower limbs and spine, causing a deplorable and often irreversible physical deformity. This disease is caused by the consumption of a very bitter cassava variety that would normally remain soaked in water for at least four days to remove cyanide before being consumed.
But many people do not respect this deadline. The territory of Kahemba, in the same province of Kwango, was hit in 2018 by the Konzo disease. Dr. Sadiki Ngeleza from the School of Public Health at the University of Kinshasa is conducting field studies on Konzo Disease, funded by NIH through the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), to determine biological risk factors associated with Konzo and the role of nutritional factors in susceptibility to konzo.
(CKS/Yes)