Description of a Mass Poisoning in a Rural District in Mozambique: The First Documented Bongkrekic Acid Poisoning in Africa

Abstract

We report for the first time an outbreak of a highly lethal illness linked to BA, a deadly food-borne toxin in Africa. Given that no previous outbreaks have been recognized outside Asia, our investigation suggests that BA might be an unrecognized cause of toxic outbreaks globally.

Kill and cure: genomic phylogeny and bioactivity of Burkholderia gladioli bacteria capable of pathogenic and beneficial lifestyles

“…In contrast to the broad conservation of plant disease traits across B. gladioli, bongkrekic acid-producing strains [13,14,49] associated with fatal human food poisoning were more closely related. They were designated group 1 by their ANI relatedness ( Fig.…”

“…In contrast to the broad conservation of plant disease traits across B. gladioli , bongkrekic acid-producing strains [13, 14, 49] associated with fatal human food poisoning were more closely related. They were designated group 1 by their ANI relatedness () and the conserved presence of the bongkrekic acid BGC in these strains adds weight to the call for their differentiation as a toxin-producing B.…”

“…In the last decade, the specialized metabolites produced by Burkholderia have been studied extensively and multiple compounds have been shown to be functional in different ecological settings [15]. B. gladioli shows a very wide range of beneficial [9,20,21] versus detrimental traits [7,8,13,49,51], several of which relate to specialized metabolite production. With multiple taxonomic reclassifications [7,9], an unknown basis for pathovar status in plant disease [7,8,11], calls for a specific recognition of the lethal food-poisoning cocovenenans pathovar [13], an emerging presence in CF lung infection [2] and an expanding role as a source of specialized metabolites [15, 17-19, 21, 48], there is a clear need to better understand the population ecology of B. gladioli.…”

“…5a). To date this lethal toxin has only been associated with B. gladioli-related food poisoning [13,14,49], and has not been linked to disease in people with CF. Analysis of 12 toxin BGC-positive strains showed that 11 of them produced bongkrekic acid in vitro, but to varying extents (Fig.…”

Fatal 3-Nitropropionic Acid Poisoning after Consuming Coconut Water

“…Because of the strong suspicion of bongkrekic acid, we tested extracted DNA with 3 Burkholderia -specific PCR assays (developed for differentiation of B. cocovenenans from other species [ 4 ]); all results were negative. We sent pieces of the coconut endosperm for detection of bongkrekic acid to the US FDA Forensic Chemistry Center (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA), which has developed a method for the detection of bongkrekic acid ( 5 , 6 ). However, neither bongkrekic acid nor the isomer isobongkrekic acid could be detected at a level of > 4 μg/g.…”