Epidemiology of cerebrospinal Elaphostrongylus cervi infection in red deer in central Spain

Abstract

Elaphostrongylus cervi produces a subclinical cerebrospinal disease in many wild and domestic ruminants from Europe, North America and New Zealand and has recently been described in Spain. To determine some aspects of its epidemiology, 121 red deer (Cervus elaphus) from central Spain were sampled during 2000. The prevalence (7%) and mean worm burden (3.8 worms per brain) were similar to the values previously recorded in other European areas. The infection was only detected in young deer during the winter. The estimation of larval production in the faeces was not a reliable method of diagnosing E. cervi infection.

The First Report of Elaphostrongylus cervi Infection in Two Imported Wapitis (Cervus canadensis) in Slovenia

“…Furthermore, the wapiti herd in Slovenia was kept in the same enclosure as approximately 35-40 European red deer, which are thought to be the original host for E. cervi as they show almost no clinical signs of infection [2]. Both female wapitis began to show neurological clinical signs during the winter months (January 2020, March 2021), which correlates with the E. cervi prepatency period of three to six months [14,25,26]. On the other hand, we could not exclude another very important North American parasite, P. tenuis.…”