Untersuchungen zum Vorkommen von Elaphostrongylus sp. im Gehirn von Ziegen und Hirschen aus dem Kanton Tessin

The aim of the study was to examine the incidence of Elaphostrongylus cervi in the brain of sixty-five goats and fifty-nine red deer. The brains were also examined for neurohistological lesions. In the subdural space of the brain of five red deer a female nematode was recovered and identified as Elaphostrongylus sp. The histopathological examination of the brains revealed significantly more inflammatory, degenerative or combined lesions in goats than in red deer. Fourty-nine red deer and thirty-eight goats had no lesions in the brain. The lesions were minimal and consisted exclusively of nonpurulent infiltrations. No etiological agent could be found for the neurological changes. However Elaphostrongylus is able to produce similar lesions in specific as well as in nonspecific hosts and represents a likely cause for the histopathological findings.