With the purpose of generating data to help the laboratory diagnosis of botulism, a bovine experimental intoxication, by oral administration with different doses of botulinic toxin type D was carried out. The objective was to determine the time that toxin can be detected in the circulating blood of bovines, by a mouse bioassay, and also to detect toxin in organs (liver, spleen, kidneys and heart) and in the ruminal contents of bovines that had died or were sacrificed after intoxication. Twelve crossbred bovines were divided into four groups of three animals each. Groups I, II and III received 200DL50/ml, 21,300DL50/ml and 63,200DL50/ml of botulinic toxin, respectively, and group IV was maintained as control. The toxin was detected mainly in the serum of bovines of groups II e III, that received high doses of the toxic inoculum, for a period of 1 to 7 days after signs of illness had appeared. The toxin was not detected in the liver, spleen, kidneys and heart but was found in the ruminal contents of only one bovine of the group II. It was concluded that the botulinic toxin is more easily detected in the serum than in organs of bovines, and it was found out mainly when the animal swallow high amount of toxin and during the initial stage of the illness (7 days).
Bovine; botulism; toxin; experimental intoxication
