Veno-occlusive liver disease: a case report.

A case of veno-occlusive liver disease (VOLD) in a 12-years old Ethiopian boy is described The salient clinical features and gross and microscopic examination of biopsy material are reviewed. Veno-occlusive disease which occurs in the West Indies, East and West Africa, and India is an acute, subacute or chronic condition that affects the central and sublobular hepatic veins. In the West Indies (1) it is related to the consumption of bush tea made from plants that contain toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids, such as Crotalaria and Senecio (2).

An outbreak of veno-occlusive liver disease in northern Ethiopia, clinical findings.

Background: Following the emergence of an unidentified fatal disease in Tahtay Koraro, rural farmers' village in Tigray, northern Ethiopia since 2001, a team of experts from Addis Ababa University Medical Faculty was assigned in November 2005, to investigate the problem in the field. The team consisted of an Infectious disease specialist, a Gastroenterologist, an Epidemiologist, a Pathologist, and a Microbiologist. The team was also joined by a group of Tigray Regional Health Bureauprofessionals.

An epidemiological study into the investigation of liver disease of unknown origin in a rural community of northern Ethiopia, 2005.

Background: An outbreak of an unidentified cause of liver disease that claimed the lives of more than 45 people occurred in a rural community, in Northwestern Tigray. Despite the wider need for an urgent response there was no obvious explanation for the disease occurrence.

Objective: The aim of the study was to collect basic descriptive information and compare exposure status among case and control house-holds to better understand the illness and its pattern of occurrence so as to identify the sources, mode of transmission and possible cause of the illness.