Epidemiological study of lathyrism in northwestern districts of Bangladesh

Two northwestern districts of Bangladesh with a population of 629,752 were surveyed from June 1991 to March 1993 to detect and follow up lathyrism patients. Out of 2,567 neurological patients, 882 were diagnosed as having lathyrism, giving a prevalence rate of 14.0/10,000. This prevalence was higher among young males: only 12.9% of the patients were female, and only 19.3% of the patients were over 30 years of age at onset of the disease. The average family size was 4.6 members. In the surveyed area, 730 families were evaluated: 622 families had only 1 affected member, and 108 families had 2-8 affected members. Most of the patients were working, while only 4% were not. The majority of the patients had a very low intake of animal protein. A few cases of human T-lymphotropic virus infection and osteolathyrism were found during this study.