Tolperisone hel and the quality of life of neurolathyrism patients in rural Ethiopia

Abstract

Dear Editor,

Neurolathysism (NL) is a central motor disorder caused by excessive and prolonged consumption of the grass pea, Lathyrus sativus which contains the glutamate analogue excitatoxin ß-N=oxalyl=a, ß- Diaminopropionic acid (1). It also exists in a form of epidemics during times of food shortages as in flooding and famine primarily affecting the poor deprived farming communities (2,3). The disease is endemic in Ethiopia and the Indian sub-continent.