Comparative studies on Megatrypanum trypanosomes from cervids.

Trypanosomes were isolated by culture from 2 out of 50 blood samples collected from reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) in northern Sweden and from a blood sample from a moose (Alces alces) from Southern Sweden. The parasites were indistinguishable morphologically from other trypanosomes reported from cervids, both as epimastigotes in axenic culture at 27 degrees C and as bloodstream-like trypomastigotes cultured on mammalian fibroblasts at 37 degrees C. Surface carbohydrate and isoenzyme comparison of these isolates with four American isolates, from reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), moose (Alces alces) and elk (Cervus canadensis), are reported. The isoenzyme patterns of the isolate from the Swedish moose were similar to those of the isolates from America while the patterns of the 2 isolates from the Swedish reindeer were considerably different from the others; these 2 isolates may represent a new species. Lectins can be used to distinguish between the trypanosomes of cervids.