Chapter 78 - Fumonisins

Abstract

In addition to pathologic findings in animals, diagnosis of fumonisin toxicosis typically relies on detecting the actual toxin in feed samples. Fungal culture of feeds has little value in diagnosing fumonisin toxicosis because some corn samples contain very high concentrations of toxin with low levels of fungus, whereas other samples have heavy growths of Fusarium fungus with a little to no detectable fumonisin. This is partly because the fungus that produces fumonisin also produces other mycotoxins. Therefore, the definitive diagnosis of fumonisin toxicosis in animals must involve analyzing the feed for the presence of the actual toxin. Many diagnostic laboratories across the world offer assays to detect both fumonisin B1 and B2 in corn and feed samples. The two most commonly used methods for toxin detection are based on high performance liquid chromatography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. To date, there are no commercially available assays that detect fumonisin in serum or tissues of animals. Generally, the onset of clinical signs is acute, and the progression of disease is rapid for both syndromes. The most important treatment is to identify and remove the source of contaminated feed to prevent other animals from developing clinical signs.