Bovine abortion and death associated with consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated peanuts
Ray, A.C.; Abbitt, B.; Cotter, S.R.; Murphy, M.J.; Reagor, J.C.; Robinson, R.M.; West, J.E.; Whitford, H.W.
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 188(10): 1187-1188
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-1488 PMID: 3721970 Document Number: 278654
When an estimated 10-14 pregnant cows in a 68-cow herd were given mouldy peanuts as a supplementary feed, constituting a large proportion of their diet for 4 days, most of them aborted on or soon after the fifth day. The animals were recumbent and unable to rise; in one, there was a low rectal temperature (99 degrees C) and a tremor of the head. All of the cows that aborted were in the third trimester of pregnancy, and all died within 8 days. Biochemical analyses performed on 3 cows revealed hepatic dysfunction, indicated by high values for lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate transaminase and total bilirubin; there was also evidence of mild dehydration; no fetuses were examined. The peanuts contained 77 micro g/g of aflatoxin B1, which was also found (5 ng/g) when a liver extract of one cow was analysed for mycotoxins. Cows fed peanut hay from the same field as the peanuts were unaffected; the nuts had been kept in the open at freezing temperatures. Abortion preceding fatal mycotoxicosis, as occurred in at least 8 of these cows, is an unusual feature of acute aflatoxicosis.