Accidental carbadox overdosage in pigs in an Irish weaner-producing herd

Department of Agriculture and Food, Regional Veterinary Laboratory, Cork, Ireland.

A weaner ration containing carbadox at concentrations of 331 to 363 mg/kg was accidentally fed to suckling and weaned pigs in an 84 sow herd. Discarded ration was fed to 36 sows. One hundred and sixty five weaner pigs died in a 10 week period with clinical signs including refusal to eat, ill thrift, the passing of hard pelleted faeces, posterior paresis and death in seven to nine days. The surviving weaners did not thrive and some males showed poor testicular development. Sows and suckling pigs that consumed the ration also failed to thrive as did the progeny of affected sows. The main pathological finding was obliteration of the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal cortex. Increased potassium and decreased sodium concentrations in serum were the most notable and consistent biochemical findings.