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Kansas wildlife researchers find low eye-worm infection rates in quail and pheasants, urge habitat focus
Summary
Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks staff reported low prevalence and low intensity of avian ‘‘eye worm’’ infections in samples collected statewide, cautioned that medicated feed is not a substitute for habitat work and recommended continued monitoring and research before wide-scale treatments.
Jeff Prendergast, a staff presenter, told the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission that samples collected from hunter-harvested birds indicate relatively low infection rates of Oxyspirura (commonly called “eye worms”) across Kansas. The department collected and lab-processed hundreds of bobwhite and pheasant heads in 2018 and found 4.2% positive among 283 bobwhites and 12.5% positive among 213 pheasants, with most infected birds carrying only a single parasite, Prendergast said.
Prendergast said the eye worm lifecycle involves eggs passed in feces, insect intermediate hosts and then ingestion by birds; the species detected is an avian specialist and…
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