Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short
Elaine Lidholm, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said Monday that the problem apparently started when unusually hot, dry weather allowed the mold to grow in a corn crop and produce high levels of the toxin Fumonisin B1.
Authorities still are trying to determine the exact source of the moldy corn, but it apparently was distributed through a dealer near Moyock, N.C., said Mark Wadstrom, a Chesapeake veterinarian.
Moldy-corn poisoning attacks the animal's brain. An afflicted horse typically will become listless and stagger as if blind before collapsing. It can die in a matter of hours.
Outbreaks of moldy-corn poisoning occur every few years, Wadstrom said, but the current one is unusually widespread. The horses involved have been from Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.
The disease was confirmed several weeks ago after autopsies were conducted on six of the horses, Lidholm said. Eleven other horses that had died since October had shown clinical symptoms of the disease.
Lidholm said anyone who has bought whole corn for feed recently in northeastern North Carolina should take the precaution of having a sample tested at the state's animal health laboratories in Ivor and Richmond. The disease also affects hogs.
John Sangenario, a veterinarian in Suffolk who examined several of the horses, said he recommends that horse owners avoid buying whole corn for feed altogether, and stick with prepared feeds.
by CNB