[Vitamin D3 poisoning--case report]

Over 650 pigs died within a couple hours in a fattening unit with approximately 3,000 fattening spaces. The pigs showed vomiting, dyspnea, kyphosis, sunken flanks, diarrhea, and polyuria. Another striking symptom of the pigs, besides the apathy, was the aphonia, due to the calcification of the vocal cords. An acute vitamin D3-intoxication was found to be the cause. The pathologic findings, especially the histologic detection of calcification processes of the soft tissues, lead to the suspect of an intoxication with a vitamin D-like substance. Between 39,000 and 196,000 IU/kg of vitamin D3 have been detected in a ready-to-use food mix. 8.8 million IU/kg of crystaline vitamin D3 were found in an open whey bag. An explanation how vitamin D came into the bag could not be clarified to this point.