Clinical and experimental modifications of plasma iron and zinc concentrations in cattle.

Plasma iron and zinc concentrations were studied in pyrexic cattle or in cattle experimentally infected with infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus or Escherichia coli endotoxin. Plasma iron and zinc levels tended to decline in the animals given endotoxin and in the pyrexic cattle, but the plasma iron level was only modified after experimental infectious bovine rhinotracheitis infection. These changes were not always related to pyrexia. Plasma iron and zinc concentrations taken together may be used as an indicator of infection.