Incidence of cardiomyopathy and collapse in two pr

Authors: Taghi TaghipourBazargani Hossein Moaddab Saman Rafia Javad Ashrafihelan

Publish Date: 2013/08/03

Volume: 23, Issue: 5, Pages: 1367-1371

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Abstract

The current case study presents the clinical paraclinical and postmortem features of two suddenly collapsed pregnant mares with severe cardiomyopathy Two horses from a group of six were examined for similar signs of sudden onset of early morning sternal recumbency and cardiac murmurs Animals were both lymphopenic and showed toxic changes in blood neutrophils Postmortem findings revealed cardiomyopathy due to degeneration of cardiomyocytes and consequent fibrosis along with gastric squamous ulcers and congestion of visceral organs Environmental assessment excluded any exposure to major cardiotoxins However it showed that the horses had consumed the locally grown Cynodon dactylon grass hay which was harvested from under the crop trees with a recent history of organophosphate OP pesticide diazinon fumigation Epidemiologic data along with major similarity of the histopathologic findings to those of OP poisoning in laboratory animals were suggestive of an intermediatelike syndrome and cardiac form of OP toxicosis in these mares Further cases were prevented by banning of suspicious feed material OP poisoning can be associated with various clinical presentations and could cause a great challenge for practitioners diagnosing the problem Consequently it could be of value to consider OPs diazinon as potential cardiotoxins in horses

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