ABSTRACT
Combs and Combs [5] reviewed the Se deficiencies affecting fish, laboratory animals, poultry, livestock, and humans. Clinical signs include reduced appetite, growth, production, and reproductive fertility, a general unthriftiness, and muscular weakness. Specific disorders include exudative diathesis and increased embryonic mortality in birds. Nutritional muscular dystrophy is found in birds, fish, and animals. Retained placenta is reported in Se-deficient cows, while mulberry heart disease is noted in pigs. Severe nutritional Se deficiency is associated with endemic juvenile cardiomyopathy (i.e., Keshan disease) in youngsters from a discrete area in China. Selenium may also be involved in the etiology of chondrodystrophic disease (i.e., Kaschin-Beck disease) in young Chinese children.
