[Sarcosporidia as the cause of sudden death during anesthesia in sheep]

The first two out of an experimental group of 17 sheep assigned for orthopaedic surgery died during inhalation anaesthesia with halothane-nitrous oxide-oxygen before the arthrotomy of the knee joint could start. Further casualties could be prevented by the use of epidural anaesthesia. Each of the 17 sheep underwent a pathologic-anatomical, histological, bacteriological and parasitological examination. It was found that all of them were infected with sarcosporidia-oocysts with myocarditis of different intensity. Possible infections with sarcosporidia-oocysts in animals, which could have had contact to carnivora, and which are taken for therapeutic surgery or for an experiment should be taken into consideration, because the lesion in the heart due to sarcosporidia-oocysts can be the cause of sudden death.