Acute hemolytic anemia caused by wild onion poisoning in horses
Pierce, K.R.; Joyce, J.R.; England, R.B.; Jones, L.P.
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 160(3): 323-327
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-1488 PMID: 5061884 Document Number: 54517
Wild onion poisoning occurred in a group of 9 horses being kept in a small, overgrazed pasture covered with wild onions (Allium canadense). Two of the horses were examined and both were found to be anaemic and icteric and both had haemoglobinaemia and haemoglobinuria. Anaemia and icterus occurred in a horse poisoned experimentally by feeding the tops of wild onions harvested from the pasture. Morphological alterations in erythrocytes were observed in stained blood smears from the two poisoned horses. Recognition of injured erythrocytes and demonstration of Heinz bodies in damaged erythrocytes were of value in establishing a diagnosis of toxic haemolytic disease.