Spot on the deer's liver

[Dana]

I got my 2nd buck today by almost all appearances healthy. There is a hole 1/4 " in dia on the liver it has a yellow bb sized object inside the hole. The hole has a clear membrane covering it and the hole also seems to have a clear fluid in it. (I didn't cut into it) I am worried it may be bovine TB I checked the Michigan DNR websitebut didn't find any good pictures. The lungs and ribcage looked good so what is it?

[Coon]

Dana,
   Phone your local vet.  He/she should be able to answer your question or atleast reccomend you to what you should do. 
  Brad.

[Modat22]

let us know what you find out, I've never heard of anything like that before and would like know.

good luck!

[etat]

I found a little bit of information here.

http://www.mndeerhunters.com/mdha/news.php?id=68


and here

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/BTB_Brochure_Pages_9-05_136333_7.pdf

but no pictures

[Corley5]

I can say with 98% certainty that it's a tapeworm cyst.  Sometimes you can even see what appears to be an eye in the clear fluid.  TB in whitetails only appears in the lungs and chest cavity not the guts.  Predators will show it in their guts because they contract it by eating infected animals.  Deer get it through basically nose to nose contact or by aerosol(sneezing or coughing on each other).  Only a small percentage of infected animals actually show physical signs of the disease.  Bring the deer's head to a DNR deer check and we'll give you successful hunter patch, cut off your antlers and turn the head in to be tested to be sure it's not TB positive.  I'll be at the station at the Flywheelers Showgrounds north of Boyne Falls tomorrow from 10 to 4 and it's open the rest of the season the same hours.  The Gaylord office checks deer 8-5 Monday through Friday too.

[Dana]

Thanks Greg, If it is a tape worm cyst, then I assume all meat in the animal should be cooked well done no pink in the middle at all?

[Kirk_Allen]

You can cook the meat the way you like it.  Things like tapeworm, cysts, tumors etc attach and or attack organs, not muscle tissue.  The muscle tissue is what your eating and should have no problems what so ever provided it does not have CWD (chronic wasting disease.)

[Dana]

I couldn't post the photo's of the liver's here because they are jpeg type. (don't know how to convert ) They are located in my gallery though if anyone wants to look at them.

[beenthere]

You can cook the meat the way you like it.  Things like tapeworm, cysts, tumors etc attach and or attack organs, not muscle tissue.  The muscle tissue is what your eating and should have no problems what so ever provided it does not have CWD (chronic wasting disease.)

Also, no evidence that CWD is a problem with eating the meat either. It's never been found that CWD transmits to any other animal group, than the cervids - i.e. elk, mule deer, and whitetail deer. However, if I know a deer has CWD, I don't eat the meat just because...    But I think CWD has been around for a long time and is only tough on the deer themselves.

Dana
pics are supposed to be in jpeg to post. keep working at it. 

[Corley5]

Looks like a tapeworm cyst to me.  It is always recommended that wild game be cooked until the juices run clear.  I however don't like an overdone piece of venison ;)  When it comes to CWD it's a different story.  It's a spongiform encephelopathy closely related to Mad Cow disease.  It probably evolved from Scrapie which affects sheep and jumped to mule deer and elk on range they shared with sheep.  To date no human cases of CWD have been identified but it is highly recommended that meat from animals from CWD areas be boned out and no part of the animal consumed except for the muscle tissue.  Contact with nervous system tissues (brain and spinal cord) should especially be limited.  Cultural differences are a main reason for the spread of Mad Cow to humans in Europe.  Here in North America we don't eat the organs of cattle except for the liver whereas in other parts of the world the whole animal is consumed including parts that may contain the prions that cause the disease.

[Dana]

Greg and all I wanted to do a final note on the liver. I had contacted Thomas Cooley at the Rose Lake Wildlife Disease Lab of the Michigan DNR He E-mailed back a response which I will share " What you are seeing is an immature tapeworm--a cysticercus of the tapeworm Taenia hydatigena--a tapeworm of canids of which the deer is the intermediate host. The yellowish dot is the head of the tapeworm and it floats is a capsule of clear fluid. The meat is perfectly edible and this parisite will not infect you. If you want to read more about the parasite, you can go to our website at www.michigan.gov/dnr and go to the search window and type in Taenia hydatigena and a chapter in our disease manual will come up. Hope this helps. Enjoy the venison. Tom Cooley Wildlife Biologist " So guys you were right! Its sure nice to be able to get good reliable info off the forum once again. Dana

[Corley5]

 ;D ;D 8)