Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Lead poisoning in cattle

2017; Volume: 22; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.12968/live.2017.22.4.192

2053-0870

Nicola Bates, Jo Payne,

Chromium effects and bioremediation

Lead is a ubiquitous heavy metal with no biological role. Lead poisoning is one of the most commonly diagnosed causes of poisoning in cattle, which in addition to causing animal health and animal welfare issues can have significant economic and food safety implications. Clinical signs of lead poisoning in cattle include gastrointestinal and neurological signs with anorexia, bellowing, dullness, blindness and head pressing. Convulsions, opisthotonus and coma also occur in severe cases. If these severe clinical signs are missed lead poisoning can appear as a sudden death. Longer term, fertility can be impaired. Management involves identifying the source and preventing further exposure by removing it or by moving the cattle away, providing supportive care to exposed cattle with chelation therapy, if practical, and ensuring that issues associated with food safety are addressed. Although animals with less severe clinical signs can recover, tissue lead concentrations can remain elevated for months to years posing a potential issue with lead residues in the food chain.