Pansteatitis

Pansteatitis, or yellow fat disease, is a physiological condition in which the body fat becomes inflamed.

Causes

It is thought to be brought about by any or a combination of a number of factors which include:

• Vitamin E deficiency ^[1]
• Microcystin poisoning
• Heavy metals and other pollutants such as DDT, PCBs, PCDDs and brominated flame retardants
  ^[2]
• Ingestion of affected animals
• Pathogens as yet unidentified

Presentations

The condition has been found in cats, fish, herons, terrapins and Nile crocodiles, piscivores such as otters, cormorants, Pel's fishing-owls and fish eagles. The disorder is also regularly found in captive-bred animals fed on high fish diets, such as mink, pigs and poultry. It shows as a rubber-like hardening of fat reserves which then become unavailable for normal metabolism, resulting in extreme pain, loss of mobility and death.^{[3][4][5] [6][7]}

Incidents

In 2008 about 170 crocodile deaths in the Olifants Gorge on the Olifants, and in the Letaba Rivers in the eastern part of the Kruger National Park in South Africa, alerted rangers and researchers to a problem that may eventually reach epidemic proportions. Dead and dying bottom-feeding catfish Clarias gariepinus that had ingested toxic pollutants such as heavy metals, had become an easy source of food for the crocodiles, with a resulting transfer of the toxins. With the onset of winter and lower temperatures, metabolism switches to fat reserves, at which time mortality peaks. These particular toxins are from the upper reaches of the river, originating from the industrial and mining complex in the Witbank and Middelburg area. Earlier, in 2007, at the Loskop Dam, higher in the Olifants River, crocodile deaths were linked to a mass die-off of fish after sewage pollution caused cyanobacterial blooms. The affected crocodiles had consumed masses of dead and dying fish. Cyanobacterial blooms (Anabaena spp.) are common in the stagnant water of dams, but do not occur in the flowing water of rivers. High autumnal mortality among migratory herons and caused by cyanobacterial blooms, is seen regularly in brackish impoundments at Chesapeake Bay in the USA.^[8]

The Massingir Dam in Mozambique, and just downstream of the Olifants Gorge, was constructed in the 1970s, but the country's civil war delayed installation of the sluice gates. The dam wall was raised and sluice gates installed in 2006, causing sediment to back up into the 8 km-long Olifants Gorge.^{[9][10][11][12]}

See also

• Vitamin E deficiency

References

1. Kritchevsky, David; Carroll, Kenneth Kitchener (1994-04-30). Nutrition and disease update: Heart disease. The American Oil Chemists Society. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-0-935315-50-9. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
2. "AFRICA- & SOUTH AFRICA". Africam.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
3. "Vitamin E Deficiency and Pansteatitis in Juvenile Boat-Billed Herons (Cochlearius cochlearius)". Jstor.org. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
4. "Pansteatitis in rainbow trout Salmo gairdneri Richardson: a clinical and histopathological study". Onlinelibrary.wiley.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
5. "pansteatitis". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
6. "Kruger Park News - Crocodile deaths puzzle scientists - Online News Publication". Krugerpark.co.za. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
7. "decline in herons along the lower olifants River – could pansteatitis be a contributing factor?" (PDF). Capebirdclub.org.za. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
8. "Harmful Algal Blooms and Bird Die-offs in Chesapeake Bay: A Potential Link?". Pwrc.usgs.gov. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
9. "Massingir Dam". Wikimapia.org. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
10. "Kruger Park Times - Rehabilitation of the Massingir Dam". Krugerpark.co.za. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
11. "Massingir Dam Rehabilitation Project" (PDF). Csir.co.za. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
12. "池袋と大塚ならデリヘルはどっちがいい？" (PDF). 8wwc.org. Retrieved 1 October 2014.

External links

• Crocodile deaths in the Kruger National Park