Mouldy maize downs (Dead) dozens in rural Kenya

[dArKeR]

Nairobi - Contaminated maize has killed at least 80 people and made more than 180 others sick in the last six weeks, a Kenyan health official said on Monday.

The government said it sent troops to hand out clean maize on Sunday after food poisoning deaths spread out from the Makueni and Kitui eastern districts despite a four-week ban on sales.

"We're now in control of the situation with both our medical people and the army on the ground," Richard Aburu, a ministry of health spokesperson, said.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1086619861883B213&set_id=1

Can anyone tell me why this journalist wrote and Editor let be published the title 'downs'? Why use this word when more than 80 human beings are dead? Why play with words like this? Misleading words in a title!

[Warpy]

1. Downy mildew is one form of mold?

The mold that grows on corn is called huitlacoche in Mexico, and is widely eaten as a delicacy. The flavor is remarkably similar to truffles.

My guess is that these folks ate seed corn which had been coated with poisonous fungicides.

Still, whoever wrote that headline should be sacked.

[TO Kid]

2. It's a common usage

I've seen "down" used as a verb synonymous with "kill" in the Canadian media all my life. I'm sure that their target audience is familiar with the meaning.

[dArKeR]

3. I would need an honest African to give me their use of the word 'down'.

You could be right but it sure seems quiet off for International English. I met quite a few ESL people overseas and it seems to me 'down' means the same as it does in America, especially relating to 'eating food'. 'I feel a little slow today', 'my stomach is upset', 'I'm under the weather today' but in fact these people are 'dead'.

[klook]

4. Aflatoxin

The story says it was aflatoxin that killed the victims. This is not too difficult to detect, but there's probably not currently a way for these rural Kenyans to check for it.

According to Iowa State University:

"Currently, two types of screening tests are available: blacklight tests and commercial test kits. The blacklight (also called ultraviolet light) test is a visual inspection for the presence of a greenish gold fluorescence under light at a wavelength of 365 nm (nanometers). The greenish gold fluorescence looks like a firefly glow. More than four glowing particles per 5-pound sample (before grinding) indicate a likelihood of a +20 ppb (parts per billion) level of aflatoxins. However, remember that this test is an initial screening for the presence of aflatoxin and the results should be verified by laboratory analysis."
<more>

[R3dD0g]

5. Here's the BBC take on the story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3785003.stm

As for 'downs', the website is in South Africa, written as a Reuters dispatch. The old British empire uses 'down' in a different way than the US English speakers.