Primary chronic copper poisoning with high fatality in khatounabad of Shahr-e-babak kerman province

Sometime in November 2006 the cause of heavy mortality of sheep in khatounabad of Shar-e-babak Kerman province was studied. In case history the affected animals had blood colorured urine icterus and progressive emaciation. The clinical symptoms of affected sheep were normal to mild hyperthermia, tachycardia with intensified sound, normal to tachypnea with pathologic sound in a patient, non qualified rumen activity, normal to diarrheal defecation, weakness to lateral recumbency and paleness to icterus of visible mucous membrane. Macroscopic pathology findings in very week and moribund slaughtered animals were: Icteric liver, big gall bladder with dark green content and yellowish internal surface, large and less consistent spleen, darken and blue gritty sediment of kidney surface, less consistent lymph node with yellowish periphery and dark center on cut surface. Histopathologic findings were as follow: Granular degeneration, increased kupffer cells with abundant ceroid like pigments, single cell necrosis and apoptosis of hepatocytes, large amount haemociderin sedimentation in spleen, very many hyaline casts in the lumens of urinary proximal tubule and hyaline droplets in cytoplasm of the epithelial cells of these tubules. Average amount of Cu in soil, plant, liver, kidnney, spleen, heart, lung, brain, rumen content, intestinal content, fat, muscle, urine, milk and blood were 1552.99, 5325.9, 939.22, 17.76, 24.57, 12.31, 19.17 10.46, 97.94, 29.07, 14.52, 7.87, 6.63, 6.25 and 50.4 ppm respectively. Each flock was mixed of sheep and goat and an accompanied donkey. Till the time of this study no goat and donkey affected with this disease. The mean of Cu in goat and a donkey serum of an engaged herd were 4.07 and 3.68 ppm respectively.