KNOXVILLE — A toxic shock reaction to a bacterial infection killed Millie, the University of Tennessee-s cloned calf earlier this month, UT scientists announced Thursday.
Pathologists at the UT College of Veterinary Medicine reported that Clostridium perfringens, a pathogenic bacterium common among dairy cows, caused the infection which led to the nine-month-old calf-s death.
Toxins from the infection damaged Millie-s intestine, brain and kidneys, even though the calf had been vaccinated against the disease, said Dr. Malcolm McCracken, a UT veterinary pathologist who helped perform the necropsy.
Millie was the first Jersey calf cloned from adult cells in the United States and attracted widespread attention when she was born last spring.
For more information see http://web.utk.edu/~taescomm/releases/md.html