Mortality supposedly due to intoxication by pyrrolizidine alkaloids from heliotropium indicum in a horse population in costa rica: a case report

This article describes a case of massive mortality among horses which was probably due to intoxication by pyrrolizidine alkaloids from Heliotropium indicum. Over 4 years more than 75% of a population of about 110 horses on a farm in Costa Rica died after showing nervous neurological symptoms. Two cl...

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Autores Principales: van Weeren, P.R., Rodríguez, L. L., Poveda, L. J., Morales, Juan Alberto, Cedeño Guevara, Humberto, Villalobos, Jorge
Formato: Artículo
Idioma: Inglés
Publicado: Taylor and Francis Group 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/11056/24424
https://doi.org/10.1080/01652176.1999.9694993
Sumario: This article describes a case of massive mortality among horses which was probably due to intoxication by pyrrolizidine alkaloids from Heliotropium indicum. Over 4 years more than 75% of a population of about 110 horses on a farm in Costa Rica died after showing nervous neurological symptoms. Two clinical manifestations were encountered, an acute and a chronic one, both with a fatal outcome. Pathological findings in 2 horses coincided with those reported in the literature for intoxication by pyrrolizidine alkaloids and were not specific for VEE. However Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) was the main differential diagnosis and could not completely be excluded because this disease was endemic in the region and VEE titres were found to be high. Taxonomic and toxicological investigations implicated Heliotropium indicum as the most probable principal cause of the intoxication.