EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION OF FALLOW DEER (DAMA DAMA) WITH ELAPHOSTRONGYLINE NEMATODES (NEMATODA: PHOSTRONGYLIDAE) FROM CARIBOU (RANGIFER TARANDUS CARIBOU) IN NEWFOUNDLAND

Five fallow deer fawns (Dama dama) were given 25 to 150 infective larvae of elaphostrongyline nematodes originating from wild caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Newfoundland. The inoculum contained infected larvae of both Elaphostrongylus cervi (E. c. rangiferi in the sense of Pryadko and Boev 1971) and Parelaphostrongylus andersoni Prestwood, 1972. No animal showed clinical signs of disease. At necropsy, all exposed deer exhibited a mild, to focally intense, eosinophilic meningitis indication helminthic invasion of the CNS. A male E. cervi and fragments of a female nematode were recovered from the brain and spinal cord, respectively, of one animal. Fragments of nematodes identified as P. andersoni were found in the longissimus dorsi muscles of this same animal as well as in one other. Three deer, including the two in which worms were found, passed dorsal-spined larvae in their feces, 69-75 days after infection. Larvae were 331-410μ long (x̄=378μ). Apparently E. cervi can migrate as far as the CNS of fallow deer. Results also reveal, for the first time, that fallow deer are suitable hosts of P. andersoni, a muscleworm which is widely distributed in wild cervids of North America