Journal of Health, Medicine and Nursing www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8419 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.25, 2016 64 An Overview on Major Mycotoxin in Animal: Its Public Health Implication, Economic Impact and Control Strategies Eyob Eshetu* Habtamu Adugna Azeb Gebretensay School of Veterinary Medicine, Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia Summary There has been a significant concern regarding the potential health risks for humans and animals via foods and feeds that are contaminated with different agents. Particularly, mycotoxin contamination is of great importance as it is widespread and unpreventable. In both foods and feeds, molds produce secondary metabolites called mycotoxins; these are produced generally after the fungi reach their maturity. Depending on the definition used, hundreds of fungal compounds are recognized as mycotoxins. However, the attention is mainly focused on aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumunisins,ergot, patulin and trichoththeneces, which are considered the most important threats for human and animal health. Mycotoxin contamination causes a fundamental problem all over the world including developed countries. Additionally, the economic impact of mycotoxins is another global concern on the agricultural markets. These concerns are based on toxicological data, which show that naturally occurring levels of mycotoxins have adverse effects in farm and laboratory animals as well as humans. Owing to the significant health risks and economic impacts, considerable investigations are being performed to diminish their harmful effects and to prevent their formation. In order to limit their levels, much research has been focused on detecting the mycotoxins in contaminated food and feedstuffs. This review will focus on information about primary mycotoxins, their occurrence, its public health implication, economic impact, and control strategies. Keywords: Mycotoxins; Aflatoxin; Ergot; Public health INTRODUCTION The term mycotoxin was used for the first time in 1961, after the math of a veterinary crisis in England, during which thousands of animals died. It was derived from “Myco” means fungus “Toxin” means poisons (Checke and Shull, 1985). Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolite of low molecular weight produced by naturally occurring fungus and the disease was linked to a peanut meal, incorporated in the diet, contaminated with a toxin produced by the filamentous fungus Aspergillus flavus (Richard, 2007). Plants can be contaminated in two ways: fungi growing either pathogen on plants in the field or on stored plants (Glenn, 2007). Biosynthesis of mycotoxins which are secondary metabolites is related to some internal factors e.g. genetic potential of fungi, substrate or to factors under which a crop is grown, harvested and stored e.g. oxygen (usually fungi need at least 1-2% O2), humidity (usually fungi grow at 13-18% moisture), temperature (usually fungi grow at 20 o C-30 o C), physical damages by insects and other stress factors (Simona and mihaela, 2008). Basically three major genera of fungus are identified to produce mycotoxins: they include Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillum. Although other genera are also produces these toxigenic compounds. Mycotoxin producing fungi grow on a wide spectrum of feed that include cereal grains, groundnuts, beans and peas .The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 25% of the world’s agricultural commodities are contaminated with mycotoxins, leading to significant economic losses (Wu, 2007). Mould species that produce mycotoxins are extremely common, and they can grow on a wide range of substrates under a wide range of environmental conditions; they occur in agricultural products all around the world (Bosco and Mollea, 2012). The presence of mycotoxins in food and feeds not only affects economy but also represents a health hazard to humans and animals constitute a risk for international trade (Cole and Cox, 2004). They are stable chemical compounds and can neither be completely removed from the food supply nor destroyed during processing and heat treatment. Always exposure is through consumption of contaminated feeds or food (marin et al., 2013). Mycotoxicosis is diseases caused by exposure to foods or feeds contaminated with mycotoxins (Nelson et al., 1993). Direct consequences of consumption of mycotoxins-contaminated animal feed include: reduced feed intake, feed refusal, poor feed conversion, diminished body weight gain, increased disease incidence (due to immune-suppression), and reduced reproductive capacities (Fink-Gremmels and Male, 2007) which leads to economic losses ( Wu, 2004, 2006a). Mycotoxins also have been reported to be carcinogenic, tremorogenic, haemorrhagic, teratogenic, and dermatitis to a wide range of organisms and to cause hepatic carcinoma in humans (Nidhi and Manisha, 2013). A supplemented list, aflatoxins were listed as a natural mixture which has a proven carcinogenic potential for humans (IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenicriskstohumans2002; http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/ ClassificationsGroupOrder.pdf2o1o). It varies widely in their toxicity and the toxic effects may be both acute (after a single exposure) and chronic (after repeated exposure). The severity of which depends on the toxicity of the mycotoxins, the extent of exposure, age and nutritional status of the individual and possible synergistic effects of other chemicals to which the individual is exposed