Question

WHAT FACTORS WOULD APPEAR TO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE THIAMINE DEFICIENCES IN PATIENTS?

Answer 1

Thiamine deficiency commonly presents sub acutely and can lead to metabolic coma and death.

A lack of thiamine can be caused by malnutrition, a diet high in thiaminase-rich foods (raw freshwater fish, raw shellfish, ferns) and/or foods high in anti-thiamine factors (tea, coffee, betel nuts) and by grossly impaired nutritional status associated with chronic diseases, such as alcoholism, gastrointestinal diseases, HIV-AIDS, and persistent vomiting.

Well-known syndromes caused by thiamine deficiency include beriberi, Wernicke -Korsakoff syndrome, and optic neuropathy.

A positive diagnosis test for thiamine deficiency can be ascertained by measuring the activity of the enzyme transketolase in erythrocytes.

In recent reports, a number of Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) techniques and in-capillary enzyme reaction methods have emerged as potential alternative techniques for the determination and monitoring of thiamine in samples.

The normal thiamine concentration in EDTA-blood is about 20-100 µg/l.