@article{ref1,
title="Fatal intoxication due to ackee (Blighia sapida) in Suriname and French Guyana. GC-MS detection and quantification of hypoglycin-A",
journal="Forensic science international",
year="2011",
author="Gaillard, Yvan and Carlier, Jérémie and Berscht, Marc and Mazoyer, Cédric and Bevalot, Fabien and Guitton, Jérôme and Fanton, Laurent",
volume="206",
number="1-3",
pages="e103-7",
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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0379-0738",
doi="10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.01.018",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.01.018"
}