Italian cocklebur (Xanthium italicum) poisoning of horses

摘要

The authors diagnosed poisoning in a stock of horses in Northern Hungary, caused by Italian cocklebur. 11 of the 23 horses in the stock suddenly died. During the clinical examination of the sick animals, colicky restlessness, rolling on the ground and symptoms of dyspnoe were observed. The pathological examination revealed expanded stomachs full to the point of stretching with relatively dry content consisting of rough fodder, maize, wheat, chaff, sunflower screenings and the crop of Italian cocklebur (Xanthium italicum Mor.), as well as enlarged and pale brown coloured livers and pulmonary oedema. In the course of histopathological examination, vacuolar degeneration and in some places necrosis of liver cells (acute liver dystrophy) were observed. Infectious diseases and poisoning by pesticides were excluded by way of microbiological and toxicological examinations. The fodder fed to the horses consisted 6.9% of Italian cocklebur. Laboratory mice were fed on the stomach content of the horses, the fodder and crop of Italian cocklebur, and were also inoculated with the bacterium free filtrate of the aqueous extract from the crop. The inoculated mice died in 1 day, while those fed on the above material, between 1 and 9 days. Severe, extensive, acute centrilobular dystrophy (centrilobular hepatocellular necrosis) was found in the livers of the dead mice. The type of liver damage in the horse corpses was identical with the liver degeneration found in the experimental animals, which confirmed the diagnosis of Italian cocklebur poisoning.