Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) has been found in 12 cattle operations and 27 free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in northwestern Minnesota, following the state's most recent outbreak of the disease in 2005 in the northwest part of the state. Both deer and cattle have the same strain of bTB. The Minnesota Board of Animal Health has been leading efforts to eradicate the disease in ...

Interspecies transmission studies afford the opportunity to better understand the potential host range and origins of prion diseases. The purpose of this experiment was to determine susceptibility of white-tailed deer to the agent of scrapie after intracerebral inoculation and to compare clinical signs and lesions to those reported for chronic wasting disease (CWD). Deer (n = 5) were inoculated...

Observations of extended estrus seasons in female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) vaccinated with porcine zona pellucida (PZP) immunocontraceptives have led to speculation that management use of PZP would, perversely, increase the rate of deer–vehicle collisions. To test this hypothesis, we studied PZP-treated female deer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaither...

We provided fenbendazole to captive (N q 77) and free-ranging (3 study areas) white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Louisiana to determine effects on gastrointestinal nematode burdens. Fenbendazole reduced gastrointestinal nematode burdens of captive and free-ranging white-tailed deer. Mean eggs per gram of feces from captive deer decreased P<O.Ol and P<O.Ol, respectively) 89% and 84% a...

In laboratory bioassays, host-seeking adult blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, lone star ticks, Amblyomma americanum (L.), and American dog ticks, Dermacentor variabilis (Say), were exposed to substances from the pelage of dogs and white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann). Male A. americanum exhibited an arrestant response to all samples of deer tarsal gland substances test...

The prevalence of the Ixodes dammini spirochete (IDS) in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) was studied on the eastern end of Long Island, New York. Both species commonly occur in a variety of habitats, are preferred hosts of Ixodes dammini, and can harbor the spirochetes in the blood. Each animal was examined for spirochetemia, tick infestati...

The current study was undertaken to determine if white-tailed deer in south Texas harbor Babesia bovis, a causative agent of bovine babesiosis. Blood samples from free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on two ranches in LaSalle and Webb Counties were screened for B. bovis and other hemoparasites by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the piroplasm 18S rDNA. Serology w...