Lupine “Crooked Calf Disease”

Can it be related to birth defects in other species?

Case Problem Overview

• Lupine caused significant calf losses in the Western United States (4,000+ calves from 12,000 cows died in one county) • New human baby born in mountainous backcountry of NW California – severe bone deformities in arms and hands – partial absence of forearm bones – absence of thumbs – medical history indicates deformities were not the result of genetics • Goats on the farm gave birth to deformed kids • Pregnant bitch was fed goat’s milk and had a litter of deformed puppies • Pregnant woman also drank goat’s milk during pregnancy

What is Crooked Calf Disease?

• characterized by bone abnormalities in the forelimbs, spine, and skull • can be directly attributed to a pregnant mother’s ingestion of a specific lupine alkaloid, anagyrine • the alkaloids act as a sedative, keeping the fetus in an abnormal position, so that it continues to grow while fixed in that position. this causes the bone abnormalities.

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Hypothesis

• We hypothesize that there is a relation between the birth defects of the human baby, goats, and dogs to the lupine induced “crooked calf disease”.

– symptoms are similar • Goats grazing may have ingested the lupine alkaloid, which allowed the toxin in their system – it seems to be transmittable through milk – evidenced by the fact that both the woman and bitch drank the goat’s milk and had deformed offspring

Evidence to support Hypothesis

• Lupine ingestion is widely accepted as the cause of “crooked calf disease” • No direct evidence available between lupine and goats • Tests could be run to detect the presence of anagyrine in goat’s milk – it has been found that when goats are fed lupine seeds, anagyrine can be detected in the milk almost immediately.

to cause abnormalities 2 – Investigations in test animals to determine how much of the anagyrine needs to be transferred

Conclusions

• Circumstances are too coincidental to be three separate, isolated incidents • appears to support hypothesis

References

• 1.http://www.wisc.edu/ansci_repro/lab/lab12_03/ lab12_cases/case7_goat.htm

• 2. Kilgore, Wendell W., Crosby, Donald G., Craigmill, Arthur L., and Poppen, Norman K. < http://extoxnet.orst.edu/newsletters/n23_81.ht

m > • 3. < http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts fdiu/CrookCalf.asp

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