Meningeal Worm in Deer from Western Nebraska

Authors

David W. Oates, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Mauritz C. Sterner, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ed Boyd, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

Date of this Version

2000

Comments

Published in Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 36(2), 2000, pp. 370–373 Copyright © Wildlife Disease Association 2000

Abstract

One hundred seventy-eight whitetailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and 275 mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) collected from locker plants in the western 2/3 of Nebraska (USA) in November 1997 were examined for the meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis). Parelaphostrongylus tenuis was identified in 17 (10%) of 168 white-tailed deer and in one (<1%) of 273 mule deer. This is the first naturally occurring infection of P. tenuis recorded in a mule deer.