Aflatoxins in liver biopsies from Sudanese children

Aflatoxin analysis of 40 percutaneous needle liver biopsies in 27 children with protein-energy malnutrition and 13 children with miscellaneous liver disease in The Sudan is reported. Aflatoxins B1, B2 and aflatoxicol were detected in 5 of the 16 biopsies from kwashiorkor but in none of 11 biopsies from marasmus or marasmic kwashiorkor. Aflatoxins G1, G2 and M2 were detected in 5 of 12 children with chronic liver disease. A very high concentration of aflatoxicol was found in a breast-fed infant with neonatal hepatitis of unknown etiology.