White muscle disease in cattle

[Eric R. Hugo]

Dear Bionetters,
	A student of mine approached me with a question concerning
a strange problem she and her husband are having on their cattle ranch.
It seems that one cow in particular has given birth to three calves in three
separate pregancies that exhibit symptoms similar to those descibed for white 
muscle disease.  The info I have been able to dig up on this topic indicates 
that white muscle disease is caused by either a selenium or tocopherol 
deficiency.  It seems rather strange to me that only 1 calf out of >250 live 
births has been exhibiting these symptoms and all three incidences have 
occurred with the same cow.  Does anyone know of any bovine genetic disorder 
that would produce similar symptoms? (ataxia/limb paralysis).  Or does anyone 
have any pointers to resources on the net (I've checked as many WWW sites asI 
could find).  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!
					Eric


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Eric Hugo, Ph.D.// |:,\\': | \\      // | :,\\': | \\      // | :,\\': | \\
e_hugo at dsu1.dsu.nodak.edu\ | | \\  // | | //  \\ | | \\  // | | //  \\ | |
Asst. Professor, Biology  \\ | :,\\': | //      \\ | :,\\': | //      \\ |
Dickinson State University  \\ //  \\ //          \\ //  \\ //          \\
Dickinson, ND  58601    |PGP 2.6 Key available from most key servers