Outbreak of copper poisoning in cattle fed poultry litter

In a feedlot of about 1,000 head of cattle, 146 animals died within a period of a few months affected by a disease characterized by anorexia, icterus, hemoglobinuria, constipation, or diarrhea. The clinical course of the disease lasted a few days. Postmortem findings were generalized icterus and a y...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inVeterinary and human toxicology Vol. 42; no. 2; p. 92
Main Authors Tokarnia, C H, Döbereiner, J, Peixoto, P V, Moraes, S S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.04.2000
Subjects
Animal Feed - adverse effects
Animal Feed - analysis
Animals
Brazil - epidemiology
Cattle
Cattle Diseases - chemically induced
Cattle Diseases - epidemiology
Copper - analysis
Copper - poisoning
Disease Outbreaks - veterinary
Fatal Outcome
Kidney - drug effects
Kidney - pathology
Liver - chemistry
Liver - drug effects
Liver - pathology
Manure - analysis
Poaceae - chemistry
Poisoning - epidemiology
Poisoning - etiology
Poisoning - veterinary
Poultry
Brazil
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Summary:In a feedlot of about 1,000 head of cattle, 146 animals died within a period of a few months affected by a disease characterized by anorexia, icterus, hemoglobinuria, constipation, or diarrhea. The clinical course of the disease lasted a few days. Postmortem findings were generalized icterus and a yellow discolored liver. The kidneys were dark brown, and the urinary bladder was filled with urine of the same dark-brown color. The main histopathological findings were centrolobular coagulative necrosis, apoptosis, bilestasis, and proliferation of bile ducts in the portal space. Changes in the kidneys included nephrosis and the presence of bile and precipitates, and cylinders of albumin and of hemoglobin in the uriniferous tubules. Liver samples, collected from 3 animals on which postmortem examinations were performed, had 2,008, 2,783 and 4,906 ppm copper in their dry matter. Two samples of poultry litter fed to the cattle contained 362 and 323 ppm copper. The green forage that formed the rest of their feed only had 4.7 ppm copper. Copper poisoning was diagnosed, most probably caused by feeding litter from poultry that had been fed a ration treated with copper sulfate to avoid aspergillosis.
ISSN:0145-6296