Blumea lacera Plant Poisoning in Cattle; Epidemiology and Management

Plant poisoning in grazing animals is more common in Bangladesh, especially during the scarcity period. The present study was undertaken to find out the epidemiology of Blumea lacera fresh plant poisoning and its management in cattle. A total of 765 suspected clinical cases were examined, of these 48 were diagnosed as Blumea lacera plant poisoning. The poisoning was found more in local cattle (92%) than that of crossbred (8%) cattle. Most of the cases were found in autumn (71%), in compare to summer (23%) and winter (6%). The highest occurrence of poisoning was observed in cattle of 6 months to 2 years of age (57%) in comparison to other age category. Therapeutic response (16%) was found if treatments were given within 4 hours of ingestion of the plant and the effective treatment was a combination of laxative, normal saline, vitamin B1. Veterinarian can apply this treatment during Blumea lacera poisoning in animals.