Barium: A Cause of the Loco-Weed DiseaseCrawford, Albert C. (Albert Cornelius)
Science
Barium: A Cause of the Loco-Weed Disease
Crawford, Albert C. (Albert Cornelius)
Astragalus earlei; Barium
[24] Chesnut, V. K., and Wilcox, E. V. Stock-Poisoning Plants
of Montana. U. S. Dept. Agric., Div. Bot., Bul. 26, p. 88.
1901.
NOTE.--The wide distribution of these plants is claimed to be
partly due to the buffalo. See Blankinship, J. W., The Loco
and Some Other Poisonous Plants in Montana, in Mont. Agric.
Exper. Sta. Bul. 45, p. 79. 1903.
=CLINICAL SYMPTOMS OF LOCOED ANIMALS AS DESCRIBED IN LITERATURE.=
The animals usually affected are sheep, horses, cattle, mules,[25]
donkeys,[26] and goats. It is claimed that practically all herbivorous
animals are liable to the disease, even antelopes being affected.[27]
Hogs are said to be unaffected,[28] but definite information is lacking.
Cows seem to be less sensitive to this form of intoxication.[29] The
condition is usually a chronic one, although acute cases are said to
occur at times. The symptoms consist of digestive disturbances,
associated with emaciation and various symptoms suggesting lesions in
the nervous system, central or peripheral. The animals lose their
appetite from the first, begin to emaciate, and show symptoms of
malnutrition and starvation. The head trembles, the gait becomes feeble
and uncertain, the eyes become sunken and have a "flat, glassy
look."[30] There is a general sluggishness, muscular incoordination, and
difficulty in motion; finally all control of the limbs is lost and the
animal is unable to stand; the coat becomes rough and loses its luster,
and, in fact, all the typical symptoms of starvation appear. In some
cases diarrhea is also present.
All of Nockolds's animals, however, were constipated and the stools were
covered with mucus.[31] The dependent portions of the body may swell,
simply as an expression of the anæmia.[32] Sometimes there are symptoms
indicating acute pain,[33] the animals running about as if affected with
colic. They may belch and their abdomens swell. Some claim that the
animals are markedly salivated so that the saliva trickles from their
mouths. In other cases the mouth may be dry.[34] The eyes may be rolled
up so that the whites alone show. In some cases the pupil has been noted
to be dilated, as in atropine poisoning,[35] but Wilcox states that
they are contracted as after the use of eserine.[36] The temperature of
the animal falls from 1/2 degree to 1-1/2 degrees F. below normal.[37]
Tetanic symptoms may occur,[38] or the muscles of the mouth and tongue
becoming paralyzed may interfere with mastication. When water is offered
to the animal, it gazes stupidly at it and may not drink for days. One
of the symptoms noted is the loss of power to back properly.[39] Cows
during the first two or three months of gestation are almost sure to
abort.[40] This is claimed by Knowles, however, to be due to
malnutrition. As a result of these observations, suggesting some uterine
action, the drug has been proposed as an emmenagogue.[41]
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