DETECTION OFCF., ANDIN CERVIDS OF THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS, UNITED KINGDOM.

Abstract

Outbreaks of suspected tick-borne disease (redwater fever) have been reported in captive deer of the Scottish Highlands. In this pilot study, polymerase chain reaction and amplicon sequencing were used to detect tick-borne pathogens in opportunistically collected blood and spleen samples from 63 (healthy, n = 44; diseased, n = 19) cervids, and 45 questing and feeding ticks () from the outbreak sites in 2021-2022. Potentially pathogenicspecies were detected in deer but not identified in ticks,was detected in both deer and ticks, andwas detected in ticks but not in deer. Sequencing confirmedandcf.parasitemia in clinically healthy red deer (),parasitemia in clinically healthy domestic reindeer (), and two cases ofcf.-associated hemolytic anemia in white-lipped deer (), of which one was fatal despite imidocarb treatment. White-lipped deer appear to be highly susceptible to babesiosis caused bycf.. This investigation highlights the importance of disease surveillance, including molecular diagnostics, for the detection of emerging tick-borne pathogens in managed populations of cervids.