Great Plains Studies, Center for

 

Date of this Version

Fall 2011

Citation

Great Plains Research 21 (Fall 2011):145- 51

Comments

© 2011 Copyright by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

Sera samples were collected from 21 free-ranging, captured female elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) in 1995- 96, and tissue and sera samples were collected from 415 hunter-harvested elk from 1995 to 2006 and tested for selected diseases. Titers for Anaplasma marginale were detected in 81 of 436 (19%) elk. Occurrence of antibodies to anaplasmosis increased from 4 to 40 elk from 2002 to 2006. Titers for bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) were detected in 18 of 346 (5%) samples. Titers for Leptospira interrogans serovars were detected in 21 of 289 (7%) of samples from 1995 to 2004. Titers for bluetongue virus (BTV) and epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) were detected in 65 of 370 (18%) sampled elk during 1995-2006. Biologists collected obex tissues from 566 elk from 1997 to 2009 and found evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWO) in one elk in 2009. No brucellosis was detected. Due to the prevalence of several diseases in elk in Nebraska, we recommend that surveillance efforts continue.

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