Use of the wetting method on cassava flour in three konzo villages in Mozambique reduces cyanide intake and may prevent konzo in future droughts.

Konzo is an irreversible paralysis of the legs that occurs mainly in children and young women associated with large cyanide intake from bitter cassava coupled with malnutrition. In East Africa outbreaks occur during drought, when cassava plants produce much more cyanogens than normal. A wetting method that removes cyanogens from cassava flour was taught to the women of three konzo villages in Mozambique, to prevent sporadic konzo and konzo outbreaks in the next drought.