Science et technologie vétérinaires

Management and control of an outbreak of fatal truamatic myiasis due to Chrysomya bezziana in a herd of Persian Fallow Deer (Dama dama mesopotamica)

Abstract

Ehsan Gharib Mombeni, Manoochehr Gharib Mombeini, Mehdi Khalaj, Morad Moradi Garavand, Abdul Amir Rezaei, Ahmadreza Lahijanzadeh, Mostafa Kenarkohi, Seyed Adel Mola, Seyed Kamin Hosseini

Cutaneous myiasis caused by the Chrysomya bezziana in Asian and African countries is common in wild and domestic mammals. A herd of Persian fallow deer (n=80, consisting of adult and young male and female animals) with an average age range of 3 months to 6 years was viewed. Observed were 40 deaths putting the heard near to extinction. The animals were found with traumatic cutaneous wounds mostly in one ear, the eyes and head as well as the ventral part of the neck. The ears were necrotised and could no longer remain upright; the wounds were full of maggots of different sizes and stages of development. Based on morphological features, the collected larvae were examined by a central Khuzestan veterinary laboratory and identified as C. bezziana larvae. This is the first ever occurrence of C. bezziana that caused such a population reduction of these wonderful animals in a herd of Persian fallow deer held under the supervision of Iranian Nature Preservation Organization and kept at Helveh Park in Shush county (East-South of Iran) where original ecology and its treatment and control of myiasis have been discussed. This paper is apparently the first report of an infestation of cutaneous myiasis due to C. bezziana in Persian fallow deer. Also we report high infestation Rhipicephalus microplus as an important ectoparasite of these Persian fallow deer that has been never discussed before.