Mycotoxins and Their Health Impacts

Although mycotoxins were identified as causative agents of illness in humans and animals in the last century, the illnesses they are associated with have been recognized for centuries. For instance, the French recognized “St. Anthony’s Fire” in the 11th century AD. The illness is believed to be caused by consumption of rye contaminated with ergot alkaloids produced by the fungus Claviceps purpurea (Agriopoulou et al. 2020). Interestingly, a study published in Science in 1976 debuted a …