Revisiting Konzo Risk Factors in Three Areas Differently Affected by Spastic Paraparesis in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo Discloses a Prominent Role of the Nutritional Status-A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.

This comparative cross-sectional study aimed to better understand the respective contributions of protein malnutrition and cassava-derived cyanide poisoning in the development of konzo. We compared data on nutritional status and cyanide exposure of school-age adolescent konzo-diseased patients to those of non-konzo subjects of similar age from three areas in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our results show that konzo patients had a high prevalence of both wasting (54.