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Title: PARELAPHOSTRONGYLUS ODOCOILEI IN OREGON BLACK-TAILED DEER

Author
item MORTENSON, JACK - USDA APIS SALEM OREGON
item Abrams, Arthur
item Rosenthal, Benjamin
item Dunams, Detiger
item Hoberg, Eric
item BILDFELL, ROBERT - OREGON STATE U CORVALLIS
item GREEN, RICHARD - OREGON DEPT FISH WILDLIFE

Submitted to: Journal of Wildlife Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2006
Publication Date: 12/3/2006
Citation: Mortenson,J.A., Abrams,A., Rosenthal,B.M., Dunams,D.B., Hoberg,E.P., Bildfell,R.J., Green,R.L. 2006. Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei in Oregon black-tailed deer. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 42:527-535.

Interpretive Summary: Documenting the host and geographic distribution of parasitic helminths in both wild and domestic ungulates is a matter of practical significance. Ongoing processes linked to anthropogenic changes in habitat and the expected ecological perturbation attendant to global climate change can be predicted to dramatically influence how pathogens and diseases are distributed in space and time. Baselines established through faunal surveys and inventories remain necessary to define and understand such ecological shifts, and the consequences of emergent parasites and pathogens. We report new records for the distribution of the pulmonary pathogen Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei in deer from Oregon. Occurrence of Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei has historically relied on the morphological examination of adult worms collected from the skeletal muscle of definitive hosts including deer. Recent advances in the knowledge of protostrongylid genetic sequences now permit larvae to be identified. Dorsal-spined larvae (DSL) collected in 2003-2004 from the lung and feces of 6 Oregon black-tailed deer were analyzed genetically. All sampled deer showed advanced clinical signs of hair-loss syndrome and evidence of verminous pneumonia. Sequences from the unknown DSL’s were compared to those from morphologically validated adults of Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei at both the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA and the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene. We provide the first unequivocal identification of P. odocoilei in Columbian black-tailed deer from Oregon. The prevalence and pathology of P. odocoilei is not known in Oregon deer populations, nor the parasite’s role as a possible predisposing factor for a recently documented syndrome for hair-loss in these cervids.

Technical Abstract: Documenting the occurrence of Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei has historically relied on the morphological examination of adult worms collected from the skeletal muscle of defintive hosts including deer. Recent advances in the knowledge of protostrongylid genetic sequences now permit larvae to be identified. Dorsal-spined larvae (DSL) collected in 2003-2004 from the lung and feces of 6 Oregon black-tailed deer were analyzed genetically. All sampled deer showed advanced clinical signs of hair-loss syndrome and evidence of verminous pneumonia. The unknown DSL’s sequences were compared to those from morphologically validated adults of Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei at both the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA and the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene. We provide the first unequivocal identification of P. odocoilei in Columbian black-tailed deer from Oregon. The prevalence and pathology of P. odocoilei is not known in Oregon deer populations, nor the parasite’s role as a possible predisposing factor for the hair-loss syndrome