Lupine- “Crooked Calf Disease”

1. Lupine- “Crooked Calf Disease” Can it be related to birth defects in other species?

2. 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

3. 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.3

4. 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

5. 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.2 • Investigations in test animals to determine how much of the anagyrine needs to be transferred to cause abnormalities

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

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