Panda phlebotomies? The need for comparative screening for haemochromatosis

Abstract

In human medicine, the diagnosis of haemochromatosis has long moved from an a-posteriori necropsy diagnosis to prophylactic screening, usually by first measuring transferrin saturation. In captive wild mammals, excessive deposition of iron (often called haemosiderosis even in cases in which a cause has been implicated—eg, liver cirrhosis and associated liver tumours in lemurs1) is a common finding at necropsy in various species.2 However, the approach via necropsy in the attempt to identify particularly susceptible species is rarely more than an anecdotal listing of positive findings, with no published reports of the absence of excessive iron deposits.