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A highly fatal hemorrhagic disease has been identified in 10 young Asian and African elephants at North American zoos. In the affected animals there was ultrastructural evidence for herpesvirus-like particles in endothelial cells of the heart, liver, and tongue. Consensus primer polymerase chain reaction combined with sequencing yielded molecular evidence that confirmed the presence of two novel but related herpesviruses associated with the disease, one in Asian elephants and another in African elephants. Otherwise healthy African elephants with external herpetic lesions yielded herpesvirus sequences identical to that found in Asian elephants with endothelial disease. This finding suggests that the Asian elephant deaths were caused by cross-species infection with a herpesvirus that is naturally latent in, but normally not lethal to, African elephants. A reciprocal relationship may exist for the African elephant disease.

Terrestrial gastropods at the National Zoological Park's Conservation and Research Center (CRC) near Front Royal, Virginia, were surveyed from June 1985 to May 1986, to assess their role in transmission of the meningeal worm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis. A total of 670 gastropods representing 9 families and 18 species was collected. The slug Deroceras laeve accounted for 50.4% of the specimens collected. Parelaphostrongylus tenuis infections were found in 15 gastropods (2.2% prevalence) representing 5 species; 5 of the infected gastropods were D. laeve. New host records for this nematode are Ventridens collisella and Philomycus carolinianus. Infected gastropods were recovered from June through October 1985 and in May 1986. All 6 sampling locations yielded infected gastropods, suggesting this parasite is widely distributed at the CRC, and is therefore likely to continue to pose a serious threat to exotic ungulates maintained there for conservation and research purposes.