First Case of Chronic Wasting Disease Found in Pennsylvania Deer

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First Case of Chronic Wasting Disease Found in Pennsylvania Deer
Adams County Captive Deer Tests Positive; No Evidence of Effect on Humans
 
Editor’s Note: Agriculture Secretary George Greig and other officials will hold a press conference to discuss Chronic Wasting Disease at 1 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 11, in the Capitol Media Center.
 
Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture today confirmed the first positive case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the state on a deer farm in Adams County.
 
The disease is fatal in deer, elk and moose, but there is no evidence that CWD can be transmitted to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The World Health Organization.
 
The positive sample was taken from a white-tailed deer at 1491 New Chester Rd., New Oxford, and tested as part of Pennsylvania’s intensive CWD monitoring efforts. The sample tissue was tested at the Pennsylvania Veterinary Laboratory in Harrisburg and verified at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
 
In addition to the Adams County location, the department has quarantined two farms directly associated with the positive deer at 6464 Jacks Hollow Rd., Williamsport, Lycoming County, and 61 Pickett Rd., Dover, York County. The quarantine prevents movement of animals on and off the premises.
 
“Pennsylvania has an aggressive Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance program and a strong response plan,” said Agriculture Secretary George Greig. “Steps are being taken to prevent further spread of this disease to the state’s captive and wild deer populations.”

An interagency CWD task force is in place to address the threat of the disease to Pennsylvania’s captive and wild deer, elk and moose populations. The task force includes representatives of the departments of Agriculture, Environmental Protection and Health, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
 
The task force will carry out the response plan, which includes education and outreach with public meetings and minimizing risk factors through continued surveillance, testing and management.
 
“To date CWD has not been found in Pennsylvania’s wild deer population,” said Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe. ”Concerns over CWD should not prevent anyone from enjoying deer hunting and consuming meat from healthy animals.”
Roe said that hunters should shoot only healthy-appearing animals, and take precautions like wearing rubber gloves when field-dressing their deer and wash thoroughly when finished. 
 
“Though no human disease has been associated with CWD, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people or other animals do not eat any part of an animal diagnosed with or showing signs of CWD,” said Acting Health Secretary Michael Wolf.
 
CWD attacks the brains of infected deer, elk and moose, producing small lesions that eventually result in death. It is transmitted by direct animal-to-animal contact through saliva, feces and urine.
 
Signs of the disease include weight loss, excessive salivation, increased drinking and urination, and abnormal behavior like stumbling, trembling and depression. Infected deer and elk may also allow unusually close approach by humans or natural predators. The disease is fatal and there is no known treatment or vaccine.
 
CWD was first discovered in Colorado captive mule deer in 1967, and has since been detected in 22 states and Canadian provinces, including Pennsylvania’s neighboring states of New York, West Virginia and Maryland. Pennsylvania is the 23rd state to find CWD in either a captive or wild population of deer and the 13th state to have it only in a captive deer herd.
 
Surveillance for CWD has been ongoing in Pennsylvania since 1998. The agriculture department coordinates a mandatory CWD monitoring program for more than 23,000 captive deer on 1,100 breeding farms, hobby farms and shooting preserves.
 
In addition, the Game Commission collects samples from hunter-harvested deer and elk and those that appear sick or behave abnormally. Since 1998, the commission has tested more than 38,000 free-ranging deer and elk for CWD and all have tested negative.
 
For more information from the departments of Agriculture and Health and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, visit:
www.agriculture.state.pa.us (click on the “Chronic Wasting Disease Information” button on the homepage),
www.pgc.state.pa.us (click on “CWD Info”), and
www.health.state.pa.us (click on “Diseases and Conditions”)
 
Media contacts:
Samantha Elliott Krepps, Agriculture, 717-787-5085
Aimee Tysarczyk, Health, 717-787-1783
Jerry Feaser, PGC, 717-705-6541

[mudbrook]

TESTS CONFIRM CWD CASE in PA

Ongoing surveillance detects disease in highway-killed deer from Bedford County.
 
A white-tailed deer that was killed by a vehicle in Bedford County this fall has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

The deer, a 1 ½–year-old buck, was struck on Interstate 99 in November and sent for testing as part of Pennsylvania’s ongoing effort to monitor the prevalence and spread of CWD, which is fatal to members of the deer family, but is not known to be transmitted to humans.

Test results confirming the buck was CWD positive were returned Dec. 24.

“It’s not as if we hope to find CWD positives as we continue our ongoing surveillance,” Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe said. “But the fact is that each test result that comes back – positive or negative – gives us a clearer picture of how prevalent the disease is, and monitoring for CWD is an important part of our efforts to manage its spread.” 

This positive test is unlikely to have much impact on hunters, but it serves as a reminder that CWD has been found in southcentral Pennsylvania. The Game Commission already has established perimeters around the sites where CWD was detected previously, and within the boundaries of these Disease Management Areas (DMAs), special rules apply to hunters and residents.

There are two DMAs in Pennsylvania, which are intended in part to contain and slow the spread of CWD. The buck that tested positive Dec. 24 was killed within what is known as DMA 2, a 900-square-mile area that includes parts of Bedford, Blair, Cambria and Huntingdon counties. More precisely, the site where the buck was killed is between two sites where CWD was detected last year, so this new positive shouldn’t change the shape or size of the DMA.

This is the first case of CWD detected in Pennsylvania this year, but not all of the samples collected this year have been tested. The Game Commission targeted collecting and testing 1,000 samples within in each DMA, as well as 3,000 samples from additional deer statewide.

CWD was first detected in Pennsylvania in 2012 at a captive facility in Adams County. Subsequently, three free-ranging deer harvested by hunters during the 2012 season – two deer in Blair County and one in Bedford County – tested positive for CWD.

CWD is not a new disease, and other states have decades of experience dealing with CWD in the wild.

CWD is spread from deer to deer through direct and indirect contact. The disease attacks the brains of infected deer, elk and moose, and will eventually result in the death of the infected animal. There is no live test for CWD and no known cure. There also is no evidence CWD can be transmitted to humans, however, it is recommended the meat of infected animals not be consumed.

For more information on CWD, the rules applying within DMAs or what hunters can do to have harvested deer tested for CWD, visit the Game Commission’s website, www.pgc.state.pa.us. Information can be found by clicking on the button titled “CWD Information” near the top of the homepage.

Further results from this year’s CWD testing will be reported at a later date.

Late-season deer hunting is now underway statewide and, in some parts of the state, deer hunting is open through the last Saturday in January. For properly licensed hunters, Roe said, that means there’s still time to get out and enjoy deer hunting this year.

“That’s a point that shouldn’t be lost,” Roe said. “While we will continue to monitor for CWD and keep a watchful eye on test results, the simple fact CWD has been detected in Pennsylvania shouldn’t keep anybody from enjoying deer hunting, or venison from healthy deer, as they always have.

“And with the better part of two hunting seasons elapsed since CWD was first detected in Pennsylvania, it seems clear the Keystone State’s hunters understand that,” he said.