Experimental production of a staggers syndrome in ruminants by a tremorgenic penicillium from soil

Authors: Mantle PG, di Menna M, Mortimer PH
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 24, Issue 3, pp 45-46, Mar 1976
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock
Subject Terms: Mycotoxicosis, Liver/hepatic disease, Disease/defect, Fungal/yeast, Locomotor, Nervous system/neurology, Pasture/crop, Research/development
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: Outbreaks of disease characterized by tremors and inco-ordination may occur in sheep and cattle grazing short, ryegrass-dominant pastures during summer and autumn. Animals appear normal on casual observation but when forced to move some distance may develop a high stepping gait, stagger and fall to the ground for a brief period of either threshing or tonic muscular spasms of the legs (Cunningham and Hartley, 1959; Keogh, 1973). The syndrome appears to be most troublesome in New Zealand but occurs also in Australia and possibly in the U.S.A. and England. No conclusive evidence of the cause of ryegrass staggers has yet been presented, although a wide range of causal factors, quoted by Keogh (1973) have been suggested…

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