Malaria Parasites Not a Friend to Fawns

North American white-tailed deer are more than just a bane to the existence of Northeast gardeners. In addition to carrying ticks that are vectors for diseases such as Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, they carry malaria parasites. Although many adult deer readily clear the infection, fawns, like human children, are particularly vulnerable to the parasites.

Researchers collected blood samples from 33 farm-raised white-tailed fawns in Florida at 3, 6 and 8 months of age. They found that about 21%