Abstract
Many human and animal diseases other than Ergotism, Alimentary Toxic Aleukemia and Turkey X Disease have been postulated to be caused by mycotoxins. Such diseases are represented by human hepatic cancer occurring in some regions in China, South-East Asia and Africa by intake of aflatoxin, acute aflatoxicoses in human and animals occurring in India and Kenya, ELEM (equine leuco-encephalomalacia) by fumonisin in South Africa and United State of America, human esophagal cancer by fumonisin in South Africa and China, and Balkan Endemic Nephropathy (BEN) and urinary tract tumor by ochratoxin A in Balkan area. In recent years, fumonisin has been postulated to be involved in human neural tube defect. However, such diseases described even in textbooks as mycotoxin induced diseases are not fully supported by epidemiological and toxicological evidence. Some of toxicity mechanisms of mycotoxins that are now accepted widely might be accepted with many unresolved problems, i.e. mechanisms of acute toxicity of aflatoxin in relation to its chemical structure, involvement of ochratoxin A in BEN and urinary tract tumor, a large difference in fumonisin toxicity among animals, etc.
