Diazinon Toxicosis in Geese

On a goose farm with 7600 geese kept in 6 houses, 730 birds in 2 houses died within a single day. After drinking, a certain proportion of geese in the affected houses exhibited trembling, salivation, lachrymation and respiratory distress followed by convulsions, dullness and prostration. The birds died soon after the onset of clinical signs. Postmortem examination revealed the presence of a large volume of watery content in the crop. The mucous membrane of the intestinal tract and the parenchymal organs were hyperaemic. Histopathological examination demonstrated the signs of circulatory disturbances in the inner organs. Water samples showing milk-like whitish discolouration, taken from the watering troughs of the two affected houses, were assayed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and found to contain diazinon in concentrations of 807 and 582 mg/l, respectively. In the oesophageal content of the dead geese GC-MS demonstrated diazinon in concentrations of 22.1 and 9.3 mg/kg, respectively. On the basis of these results the diagnosis of poisoning caused by the organophosphate insecticide diazinon was established. The suspicion of accidental or intentional contamination of the drinking water with a diazinon-containing product has arisen, but attempts to identify the diazinoncontaining product responsible for the toxicosis were unsuccessful.