Descriptive study of botulism in an Austrian dairy herd: a case report

Abstract

An outbreak of botulism was suspected at an Austrian dairy farm in June 2010. Six Simmental cows, out of a herd of 29, were affected and showed the typical signs. The affected cows included either animals suffering from sudden recumbency and reduced tongue tone or others which developed paresis, which gradually led to recumbency. Most of the affected animals died. Two cases were submitted to the Clinic for Ruminants at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in order to clarify the cause of illness. The animals had reportedly been fed recently with silage possibly polluted by discarded cat carcasses spread onto the pasture used for the silage in question. The two referred cases both showed recumbency and swallowing difficulties. Both cows had to be euthanized. One of the two cows was in the late stage of pregnancy and a healthy calf could be delivered by Caesarean section. The outbreak of botulism was diagnosed clinically as well as by confirmation of Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins C and D by mouse bioassay. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report in which a live calf has been delivered out of a cow suffering from acute botulism.

A Case Report of a Botulism Outbreak in Beef Cattle Due to the Contamination of Wheat by a Roaming Cat Carcass: From the Suspicion to the Management of the Outbreak

“…Most of the cattle outbreaks reported in the literature are dairy cattle [8,[10][11][12]14,[20][21][22][23][24][25]. This outbreak emphasizes that beef cattle can also be affected by botulism, even in small farms and not only in feedlots [26,27].…”

“…They are, however, commonly encountered in Australia and South Africa, where bovine and avian husbandry are mixed [29]. Several type C outbreaks of bovine botulism due to contamination of feed with a carcass, especially a cat carcass, have been reported in the literature [8,14,[21][22][23][24]30,31]. Contaminated hay or silage was involved each time.…”

Therapeutic management of botulism in dairy cattle

“…Death or salvage for slaughter was the sequel after calcium borogluconate administration in cattle suspected for botulism [ 18 ]. Some authors have reported recovery of cows from botulism after 1 week [ 19 , 20 ]. In this study, 17 animals recovered over a period of 2-30 days.…”

“…Kummel et al . (2012) reported maintenance of pregnancy and recovery from botulism in a cow [ 20 ]. Despite contradicting the recommendations of intravenous fluid administration by earlier researchers, symptomatic management adopted in this study aided the recovery from botulism [ 14 ].…”

Occurrence of Clostridium botulinum in Four Species of Fish in the Persian Gulf

“…The disease is more evident in children under one year of age because there is more chance to germinate spore in the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) and so productions of more exotoxins [2]. species of C. botulinum are classified in I to IV subgroups, from which, the I and II groups (A, B, E, F) and B, C and D were respectively identified in human and cattle [2,3,4,5]. The groups of bacteria are phenotypically dissimilar, for instances, the biochemical characteristics and production of metabolites in different types of the bacteria are not appropriate enough to differentiate them [6].…”