An Outbreak of Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease in Western Afghanistan Associated with Exposure to Wheat Flour Contaminated with Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids

Table 4

PA content of thirty-two flour samples collected from affected villages, Gulran District, Afghanistan, 2008.

	Flour Samples median, (mg/kg)
	Cases  $n=12$	Controls  $n=20$
${\text{Heliotrine}}^{\text{a}}$	0.16	0.07
Heliotrine-N-oxide	5.4	2.6
${\text{Lasiocarpine}}^{\text{b}}$	0.045	0.025
(quantified  against echemidine)
TOTAL PA	5.6	2.7

Mann-Whitney rank-sum test between cases and controls for flour samples:
${}^{\text{a}:}$ z $=2.0\text{,}$$P=.050$
${}^{\text{b}:}$ z $=1.9\text{,}$$P=.057$.