Epizootiology of game cervid cysticercosis

The protection of game from diseases is important for several reasons. Mainly, this is concerned with the health of the animals themselves, which under the conditions obtaining in the Slovak Republic are at an increasing rate exposed to negative factors arising from the activities of man. Among other factors, exposure to diseases, including these caused by parasitic infections, is increasing. In order to assess the prevalence of Taenia species in wild carnivores, which is indicative of or related to infection in cervids, 323 animals were investigated. The taenias were represented by 7 species: Taenia hydatigena (Pallas, 1766), Taenia krabbei Moniez, 1879 (syn. T. cervi Christiansen, 1931). Tetratirotaenia polyacantha (Leucart, l856), Mesocestoides litteratus, M. lineatus (Goeze, 1782), Ralliet, 1843 and Echinococcus multilocularis. The presence of T. hydatigena was established in 12 red foxes and two wolves and T. krabbei was found in one wolf and three foxes. The presence of cysticerci was investigated in 114 game ruminants post-mortem (32 red deer, 61 roe deer and 21 fallow deer). Cysticercus tenuicollis (Taeniae hydatigena) was found in 3 game species (red deer, roe deer, fallow deer) and cysticerci of T. krabbei in the myocard of red deer.