Serum troponin I as an indicator of myocarditis in lambs affected with foot and mouth disease

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoovedlivestock and wildlife results to relatively high mortality in young animals. Despite thenumerous reports of FMD-related death in neonates, there is little data available on variousaspects of FMD in lambs. This report describes myocarditis associated with FMD in five, oneweek to three months old lambs. The lambs were depressed and afebrile and two oflambsshowed foamy salivation associated with shallow ulcers inoral cavity. Electrocardiography(ECG) revealed sinus tachycardia, multifocal ventricular premature beats and ventricularfibrillation. Serum biochemistry showed high levels of troponin I concentration and CK andAST activity. In Pathology, there were multiple pale areas in the subepicardial andsubendocardial muscles and; widespread degeneration and coagulative necrosis ofmyocardium. The serum troponin I assay and ECG can be used for diagnosis of myocarditisand prognosis of affected lambs during FMD outbreak.