When supplements kill: selenium overdose kills 21 horses

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A serious incident involving a compounding pharmacy resulted in the overdose of polo horses due to a critical error in mixing vitamins and electrolytes. The pharmacy mistakenly added 5 mg/mL of selenium instead of the intended 0.5 mg/mL, leading to fatal consequences for the horses. While the exact total dose administered is unspecified, the comparison to "Centrum Silver," which contains only 55 micrograms (0.055 mg) of selenium per tablet, highlights the severity of the overdose, equating to the selenium content of nearly 100 tablets. Horses are particularly sensitive to selenium; they require it in small amounts as an essential mineral but can easily suffer from toxicity. This sensitivity is illustrated by a case where a horse farm had to switch from well water to city water due to elevated selenium levels in the well water, which was still safe for human consumption.
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Conclusion to the polo story. A compounding pharmacy mixed up vitamins and electrolytes for sports horses, but they added 5 mg/mL selenium instead of 0.5 mg/mL, which was the lethal mistake. (It does not say what the total dose was).

Selenium Overdose Caused Deaths of Polo Horses
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/04/selenium_overdose_caused_death.php

For comparison (I looked up), "Centrum Silver" has 55ug Se (0.055 mg), so 5 mg is about 100 tables - most of a bottle.

http://www.centrum.com/product_detail.aspx?productid=CENTRUMSLVR&panel=tablets
 
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Horses are VERY sensitive to selenium. They need a little bit as an essential mineral, but can easily overdose. The safety margin isn't so bad with humans. I know of one horse farm that had well water and had to get city water brought in for watering the horses, because the well water had too high of a concentration of selenium. It was still safe for people to drink, but too high for the horses.
 

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