by Dana Wright
Every year we have people send us pictures of quail breasts with these spots on them wanting to know what they are, they are commonly referred to as “rice breast”. The spots are lesions caused by parasitic worms that are a Physaloptera spp.. The quail becomes infected by eating arthropods (insects) that act as intermediate hosts. The worms can be found in the stomach, intestines and muscle tissue.
- Quail may also serve as paratenic (secondary) hosts, meaning the larvae can be present in their tissues, although it is not fully understood if they play a significant role in the parasite’s transmission to other animals.
- Human infection is extremely rare, but we recommend thoroughly cooking the meat to kill any parasites or discard the meat if it is extremely infected.
- Physaloptera spp. are found in lots of other wildlife species, such as skunks, foxes, reptiles and amphibians.
- This is different than what’s found in ducks, “rice-breast” refers to Sarcocystis in waterfowl —- not to be confused with Physaloptera in quails.
