Dorsal-spined larvae in fecal samples from free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Michigan and Pennsylvania were used as a source of larvae to infect a hand-raised white-tailed deer fawn. The fawn received 200 third-stage larvae and passed dorsal-spined larvae in feces 66 days later. Muscleworm (Parelaphostrongylus andersoni), and meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) were recovered at necropsy. Two white-tailed deer and seven wapiti (Cervus elaphus) exposed to larvae of the source from Pennsylvania harbored only P. tenuis. This is the first report of P. andersoni in the midwestern United States and extends the known range of this muscle-worm in free-ranging white-tailed deer. Concurrent infections of P. andersoni and P. tenuis have not been established previously in experimentally infected fawns.

Parelaphostrongylus andersoni, muscleworm, distribution, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, meningeal worm, concurrent infections, white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus
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© Wildlife Disease Association 1990
1990