Diagnosis of Taxus (yew) poisoning in a horse

A 2-year-old bay Thoroughbred colt was found dead overnight in its stall without a known history of any illness, existing disease, or toxicant exposure. No information on the clinical signs before this animal's death was reported. A full necropsy was performed the next morning and revealed a mi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of veterinary diagnostic investigation Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 252 - 255
Main Authors Tiwary, A.K, Puschner, B, Kinde, H, Tor, E.R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.05.2005
Subjects
alkaloids
Alkaloids - analysis
Animals
cardiotoxicity
disease diagnosis
gas chromatography
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
heart
heart diseases
horse diseases
Horse Diseases - diagnosis
Horse Diseases - etiology
Horse Diseases - pathology
Horses
Male
Myocardium - pathology
phytotoxins
Plant Poisoning - diagnosis
Plant Poisoning - etiology
Plant Poisoning - pathology
Plant Poisoning - veterinary
poisoning
poisonous plants
taxines
Taxus
Taxus - poisoning
Thoroughbred
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Summary:A 2-year-old bay Thoroughbred colt was found dead overnight in its stall without a known history of any illness, existing disease, or toxicant exposure. No information on the clinical signs before this animal's death was reported. A full necropsy was performed the next morning and revealed a mild to moderate degree of endocardial hemorrhages in both ventricles. Microscopic examination of the heart showed an acute mild mutifocal necrosis of papillary muscles and ventricles. The stomach content contained approximately 2% Taxus alkaloids as determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. In the past, diagnosis of Taxus poisoning has been mainly based on history of exposure and the presence of plant parts in the gastrointestinal tract. Pathological lesions associated with Taxus poisoning have not been published for horses. Therefore, this is the first report of cardiac lesions in a horse after lethal exposure to Taxus. On the basis of these findings, it is suggested that Taxus exposure needs to be considered in the differential diagnosis of horses that die suddenly or have cardiac lesions suggestive of Taxus exposure, even if intact plant parts are not identified in the stomach by the naked eye.
ISSN:1040-6387
1943-4936
DOI:10.1177/104063870501700307