Poisoning in animals due to oral application of iron. With description of a case in a horse.

Abstract

Peroral application of iron salts in various types of anemia was previously considered atoxic. The increased use of iron has, however, led to an increasing number of poisoning in children, taking iron tablets for candy. There have only been reported a few number of spontaneous intoxications in animals, but experimentally it has been possible to produce fatal intoxications in various kinds of animal species. The clinical findings are quite similar in the various animals, starting with vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and metabolic acidosis. If the intoxication is severe, shock and coma may develop, and death occurs quite soon. The histological findings are also similar in the various animals, varying from erosions of the tops of the villi to necrosis of the mucosal membrane of the jejunum. Degenerative changes in the liver as well as in the kidney are seen in several cases. The mentioned case was a horse given about 475 g ferro fumarate over a period of 5 days. The horse developed the classic clinical picture and death occurred on day 7. The diagnosis was confirmed by very high levels of iron in the liver, kidney and serum. The blood values of the enzymes ASAT and gamma GT were extremely high as a sign of a severe damage of the liver.