Preliminary investigation on aflatoxin in cord blood of jaundiced neonates.

Cord blood was obtained from 164 neonates at birth and investigated for the presence of aflatoxins. 14 of the samples were neonates without jaundice and 150 from neonates with jaundice. There was significant reduction (P > 0.05) in birth weight of jaundiced neonates with aflatoxin. Neonates with jaundice have high mean concentration of aflatoxin B1 (32.3 ng/ml and 35.6 ng/ml). Aflatoxin G1 was not detected in any of the groups. The rate of detection was higher in wet (81.8%) than dry season (50.0%). These findings show that neonates are exposed to aflatoxin prenatally and that high incidence of jaundice occurred in the wet warm months.