TOXAEMIC JAUNDICE IN SHEEP

Southland Times, Issue 23586, 13 August 1938, Page 19

TOXAEMIC JAUNDICE IN SHEEP

DISEASE SIMILAR TO FACIAL ECZEMA A disease of sheep known as toxaemic jaundice, in which the affected animals suffer a swollen head and ears, and a jaundiced condition which frequently ends in death, has recently been the subject of research in Victoria. In many respects the disease closely resembles the facial eczema from which North Island sheep and cattle suffered last autumn, especially as the exposed skin on the face and elsewhere breaks out in scabs which eventually slough off, leaving a red, bare, tender patch. For some time it has been considered that this trouble was caused by the stock eating one of the panicum grasses known as “summer grass, especially in its early stages of growth and in hot weather soon after rain, when the poisons presumed to be in this young growth upset the liver functions, thus preventing the discharge from the system of waste matter, which causes the jaundice and skin eruptions. In the course of attempts to discover what this poison is, three groups of ewes have been given daily doses of copper sulphate (bluestone), while a fourth group has been kept as a control. Dr H. E. Albison, director of the Melbourne University Research Institute, has now announced that all the sheep which received copper sulphate developed symptoms indistinguishable from those of toxaemic jaundice, the first case occurring a fortnight a per the experiemnt had begun. Others followed at irregular intervals during the next two or three months until all the ewes receiving copper had died. It was found from blood tests, that immediately before the onset of l' aun “ dice the amount of copper in the blood increased up to 10 times above normal. This was followed by other changes, including a reduction of the number of red corpuscles and consequent anaemia. It has long been known that the liver is the filter of the blood stream, taking out minerals such as copper, and it is thought possible that an excess of copper may cause the liver derangement which results in toxaemic jaundice.

The experiments are being continued and may result in the gain of valuable knowledge throwing light on the cause, or causes, of facial eczema.