Further Experimental Studies on Brucellosis in White-Tailed Deer

Abstract

In recent years, considerable interest has been manifest in bovine brucellosis in white-tailed deer (Dama virginianus). In 1949 and 1951, Bolin, et al. reported negative findings from serologic studies of this disease among wild deer in North Dakota. Steen, et al. (1955) reported tests of 996 blood samples from all age and sex classes of white-tailed deer in Missouri and found no definite reactors. During a preliminary survey on the incidence of brucellosis among white-tailed deer in the southeastern United States, Shotts, et al. (1958) found only 1 reactor among 403 specimens. In 1959, Youatt, et al. published comparable findings from sera obtained from whitetailed deer of Michigan. Hayes, et al. (1960) demonstrated only 8 reactors from 6,307 white-tailed deer serum specimens from the southeastern United States. Trainer and Hanson (1960) found 1 reactor among over 600 Wisconsin deer blood samples. The low incidence of reactors found in these surveys suggests either that wild white-tailed deer are not commonly exposed to infection with Brucella spp. or that, if exposed, they do not usually become reactors. In either instance these surveys imply t at deer are not important in relation to the national brucellosis eradication