Cattle mortality attributed to the toxic cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii in an outback region of North Queensland

Three cows and ten calves were found dead near a farm dam on a cattle property at McKinlay in northwest Queensland, Australia. At that time, the dam contained an algal bloom which was identified as a monoculture of the cyanobacterium C. raciborskii. Histological examination of the liver of a calf ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental toxicology 1999-02, Vol.14 (1), p.179-182
Main Authors: Saker, M L, Thomas, AD, Norton, J H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia, Queensland
cyanobacteria
cylindrospermopsin
Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii
Freshwater
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Summary:Three cows and ten calves were found dead near a farm dam on a cattle property at McKinlay in northwest Queensland, Australia. At that time, the dam contained an algal bloom which was identified as a monoculture of the cyanobacterium C. raciborskii. Histological examination of the liver of a calf carcass showed signs consistent with poisoning caused by hepatotoxin. The hepatotoxic alkaloid cylindrospermopsin was detected in material harvested from the dam (4.1 x 10 super(-15) g/cell) and in a pure culture of an isolate from the bloom (4.4 x 10 super(-15) g/cell). An extract of this material was lethal to mice, after 24 h at an intraperitoneal concentration of 153 mg/kg. This appears to be the first report of animal poisonings attributed to the cyanobacterium C. raciborskii.
ISSN:1520-4081
1522-7278
DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1522-7278(199902)14:1<179::AID-TOX23>3.3.CO;2-7