Chief Veterinary Officer's Unit, Agriculture Victoria, Attwood, Victoria, Australia.
PrimeSafe, South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Aust Vet J. 2022 Oct;100(10):465-475. doi: 10.1111/avj.13171. Epub 2022 Aug 18.
Indospicine is an arginine analogue and a natural toxin occurring only in Indigofera plant species, including Australian native species. It accumulates in the tissues of grazing animals, persisting for several months after ingestion. Dogs are particularly sensitive to indospicine toxicity and can suffer fatal liver disease after eating indospicine-contaminated pet meat.
A disease outbreak investigation was launched following notification to Agriculture Victoria of a cluster of 18 dogs displaying acute, severe, hepatopathy in the East Gippsland Shire in June 2021.
Between June and September 2021, 24 pet dogs died, and 40 others experienced liver disease after eating commercially prepared pet meat found to contain indospicine. The investigation identified the toxin in serum and liver samples from affected dogs and at high levels in some samples of pet meat eaten by the dogs. Twenty-six horses that were moved from the Northern Territory and processed at a Pet Meat Processing facility (knackery) in eastern Victoria over a period of 14 days in late May-early June 2021 were identified as the likely source of the indospicine toxin in the pet meat. Pet meat produced by the knackery and on-sold by several retailers was determined to be the cause of the illness and death in the dogs.
This is the first report of severe and frequently fatal hepatopathy in dogs in Victoria relating to consumption of pet meat contaminated with indospicine.
靛红灵是一种精氨酸类似物，是一种天然毒素，仅存在于菘蓝属植物物种中，包括澳大利亚本土物种。它在食草动物的组织中积累，在摄入后可持续数月。狗对靛红灵毒性特别敏感，食用受靛红灵污染的宠物肉后可能患上致命的肝病。
2021 年 6 月，澳大利亚维多利亚州接到通知，称东吉普斯兰郡有 18 只狗出现急性、严重的肝病，随后展开了疾病暴发调查。
2021 年 6 月至 9 月期间，24 只宠物狗死亡，40 多只狗在食用含有靛红灵的商业宠物肉后出现肝病。调查在受影响狗的血清和肝脏样本中以及在狗食用的一些宠物肉样本中发现了这种毒素。26 匹马在 2021 年 5 月底至 6 月初的 14 天内从北领地转移到维多利亚州东部的一家宠物肉加工厂（屠宰场）进行加工，被确定为宠物肉中靛红灵毒素的可能来源。屠宰场生产的宠物肉和几家零售商转售的宠物肉被确定为导致这些狗患病和死亡的原因。
这是维多利亚州首次报告与食用受靛红灵污染的宠物肉有关的狗严重且经常致命的肝病。
