Assessment of vitamin E levels, selenium levels and presence of viral pathogens as the etiology of mulberry heart disease

Mulberry heart disease (MHD) in swine usually manifests as sudden death in young, fast-growing, apparently healthy pigs. The hallmark lesions are acute hemorrhagic myocarditis and myocardial necrosis resulting in heart failure. It has long been suspected that MHD is linked to deficient levels of vitamin E and/or selenium (3,4,5,6). However, the exact relationship is still unclear and vitamin E and selenium deficiency are not observed in all cases of MHD (3). Furthermore, recent evidence sugges