The researchers said the lychee's potential toxic effects were noted in ancient literature from China, where the fruit originates, however the commercial lychee industry in India is relatively young and has expanded quickly.
"This knowledge has been slow to reach certain parts of Asia where the so-called mysterious lychee disease has been attributed to various causes (fruit colouring, heat stroke) in Bihar, India, to an unidentified pesticide in north-west Bangladesh and, after an exhaustive negative virological search, to a yet-to-be-discovered neurotropic virus in northeast Vietnam," Professor Peter Spencer and Dr Valerie Palmer wrote in a Lancet paper discussing the research.
How has this link not been made before?
The researchers said the lychee's potential toxic effects were noted in ancient literature from China, where the fruit originates, however the commercial lychee industry in India is relatively young and has expanded quickly.
"This knowledge has been slow to reach certain parts of Asia where the so-called mysterious lychee disease has been attributed to various causes (fruit colouring, heat stroke) in Bihar, India, to an unidentified pesticide in north-west Bangladesh and, after an exhaustive negative virological search, to a yet-to-be-discovered neurotropic virus in northeast Vietnam," Professor Peter Spencer and Dr Valerie Palmer wrote in a Lancet paper discussing the research.