ABSTRACT
White-tailed deer (WTD) are considered as one of the most important reservoirs of N. caninum infection in the USA. Hundreds of thousands of WTD are harvested by hunters and killed in traffic accidents yearly. The carcasses and viscera are a potential source of infection for wild carnivores, specially wolves, coyotes, but also for dogs, which in turn can spread the infection by excreting environmentally resistant oocysts in the environment. Other Cervidae were examined in the Czech and Slovakian Republics zoological gardens but no seropositives were detected. A clinical case in an East African antelope (also called the lesser kudu) was reported from neonates in a zoo in Germany. Evidence for congenital infection was based on the detection of N. caninum antibodies in presuckling sera and the detection of parasite DNA in brains of 2 calves.
