Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2019-02-01"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- First description of an outbreak of cattle intoxication by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) in the South of PortugalPublication . Menezes, Carina; Nova, Rita; Vale, Micaela; Azevedo, Joana; Vasconcelos, Vítor; Pinto, CarlosA herd of 53 Angus x Charolais crossbred cows and 1 herd bull grazing a stubble field broke through an electric fence, and gained access to stagnant water from a small river (Ribeira de Oeiras). In less than 19 hours, 20 cows died and 5 were sick with clinical signs of ataxia, recumbence, abdominal distension, opisthotonus, paddling and masticatory movements, frothing at the mouth, and bloody diarrhea. The 5 sick cows later died, and the remaining 29 animals remained healthy. Clinical and pathological findings revealed the presence of hepatic and renal necrosis. In the water samples, several cyanobacterial species were identified, predominantly belonging to the toxic genera Microcystis. Altogether, these observations led to a tentative diagnosis of acute hepatoxicity caused by cyanotoxins. The diagnosis was confirmed by detection of microcystin-LR in the kidney from 1 animal. To our knowledge, this is the first report of microcystin-LR animal poisoning in Portugal.
- Occupational Exposure to Mycotoxins in Swine Production: Environmental and Biological Monitoring ApproachesPublication . Viegas, S.; Assunção, R.; Martins, Carla; Nunes, Carla; Osteresch, Bernd; Twaruzek, Magdalena; Kosicki, Robert; Grajewski, Jan; Ribeiro, Edna; Viegas, C.Swine production workers are exposed simultaneously to multiple contaminants. Occupational exposure to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in Portuguese swine production farms has already been reported. However, besides AFB1, data regarding fungal contamination showed that exposure to other mycotoxins could be expected in this setting. The present study aimed to characterize the occupational exposure to multiple mycotoxins of swine production workers. To provide a broad view on the burden of contamination by mycotoxins and the workers’ exposure, biological (urine) samples from workers (n = 25) and 38 environmental samples (air samples, n = 23; litter samples, n = 5; feed samples, n = 10) were collected. The mycotoxins biomarkers detected in the urine samples of the workers group were the deoxynivalenol-glucuronic acid conjugate (60%), aflatoxin M1 (16%), enniatin B (4%), citrinin (8%), dihydrocitrinone (12%) and ochratoxin A (80%). Results of the control group followed the same pattern, but in general with a lower number of quantifiable results (