[Parathion poisoning in cattle (author's transl)]

In a herd of dairy cattle half of the cows showed symptoms of acute poisoning. Blood- and hair samples were taken from seven of the cows, of which two did not show any clinical symptoms. The cholinesterase activities were in all the blood samples decreased to about 10 per cent of normal and parathion was found in all hair samples. The cholinesterase activities rose gradually during a 31/2 month period to the lower part of the normal range. Parathion was found in samples from the inner walls of the cowstable, and it was concluded that the poisoning was probably due to parathion spraying in the stable, while a suspicion of winddrift as a source of poisoning was rejected as less probable.