CEREBROSPINAL PARELAPHOSTRONGYLOSIS IN FALLOW DEER

¹ Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
² Tennessee Valley Authority, Post Office Box 27, Golden Pond, Kentucky 42231, USA

Neurologic disease attributed to infection by meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) was diagnosed in seven fallow deer (Dama dama) from the Land Between The Lakes region of Kentucky. Afflicted deer had paresis or paralysis of the hindquarters which quickly progressed to tetraplegia. Gross and microscopic cerebrospinal lesions were similar to those previously reported and consisted mainly of nonsuppurative meningitis and radiculitis, focal granulomas on the surface of the spinal cord, and nonselective malacia and glial scarring in brain and spinal cord. Living P. tenuis were recovered from brain or spinal cord in two deer, and degenerating nematodes were found in four. Possible epizootiologic relationships between the parasite, fallow deer and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are discussed.