Eating litchi fruit may be behind the mysterious brain disease that has caused hundreds of unexplained deaths among children in recent years in Bihar, a new study published in the Lancet journal has claimed. Outbreaks of an acute neurological illness with high mortality among children occur annually in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, country's largest litchi cultivation region. "We aimed to investigate the cause and risk factors for this illness," researchers said. Specimens of blood, cerebrospinal fluid and urine as well as litchis were tested for evidence of infectious pathogens, pesticides, toxic metals. "Our investigation suggests an outbreak of acute encephalopathy in Muzaffarpur associated with both hypoglycin A and MCPG toxicity," the researchers said.

Source: India Today February 01, 2017 08:43 UTC