In Kaykalenge village (population 1250), Popokabaka Health Zone, Bandundu Province, DRC a medical team found 34 cases of konzo, of which 17 were contracted in 2009. Since poisonous cyanide is detoxified in the body to produce soluble thiocyanate which is removed in the urine, a urinary thiocyanate analysis gives a measure of the amount of cyanide ingested in preceding days. Those people with urinary thiocyanate concentrations in excess of 300 µmole/L are considered to be in danger of getting konzo. Urinary thiocyanate analyses on 100 school children of Kaykalenge village showed that 49% were in danger of contracting konzo.

Ten of the senior women of the village were taught the wetting method (see Wetting method to remove cyanide from cassava flour) and they in turn taught 15-20 women each to use the method.  Laminated illustrated posters which describe the method in Kiyaka, the local language, (see Posters available on the wetting method, konzo and cyanide poisoning) were distributed to the women of the village. The mothers of Kaykalenge village preferred the taste of the thick porridge (fufu) made from treated flour because the bitter taste of the cyanide compound (linamarin) had been removed by the wetting treatment.  Nearly all (96%) of the women continued to use the wetting method during the dry season May-August when konzo usually occurs and there were no new cases of konzo. Furthermore, urinary thiocyanate analyses showed that the children in danger of getting konzo had been reduced from 49% to 28%. On a further visit in December 2010 there were no new cases of konzo and the children in danger of getting konzo had reduced further to 11%. The intervention in Kaykalenge village is continuing.

These results show for the first time that if the village women routinely use the wetting method in food preparation, then new cases of konzo are prevented in a konzo-prone village. It is hoped that this study (Banea et al., CCDN News No 16, p 2) may be a useful model for further work to combat konzo in DRC, Mozambique, Tanzania, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Angola.