Relationships of Fusarium toxins to tumours and other disorders in livestock.

Experimental laboratory animals treated with the trichothecene T-2 toxin, develop various acute and chronic disorders and also tumours of the digestive tract and of the brain. T-2 toxin is teratogenic and immunosuppressive. In livestock, ingestion of fodder contaminated with T-2 toxin and with certain other trichothecenes can cause various disorders, including a haemorrhagic syndrome, neurological and reproductive disturbances. Follow-up studies of survivors in the flocks or herds which suffered fatalities from acute mycotoxicoses could establish whether and which chronic disorders and tumours may develop among the survivors and among their progeny, as a result of exposure to mycotoxins, which caused the acute fatalities. Outbreaks of acute mycotoxicoses are usually preceded by exceptional weather.