Abstract

    The project was aimed at evaluation of comparative therapeutic efficacy of two treatment regimes for the treatment of lead poisoning in sheep. For this purpose 20, two-months-old, lambs of Buchi breed were used as experimental animals. Five animals were kept as healthy control, whereas the remaining 15 animals were given oral aqueous solution of lead acetate daily. The dose was started from 5 mg/kg bodyweight and was increased gradually till it reached 100 mg/kg  body weight by the end of 2^nd month when clinical toxicosis was observed. Clinical findings included diarrhea, hindquarter weakness and reduction of feed intake, accompanied by anemia and elevated blood lead levels up to 2.72 ppm. The 15 toxicated animals were divided into three  groups A, B and C comprising of 5 animals each. Disodium calcium edetate, which was used to treat animals of group A, resulted in 52.7% fall in blood lead level in 5 days. A combination of disodium calcium edetate and thiamine hydrochloride was used to treat animals of group B, which showed 73.8% fall in blood lead levels. Group C served as untreated control. Thus, combination therapy appears to be more effective for treatment of lead toxicosis.