Published Date: 2002-01-01 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH> Chronic wasting disease, cervids - USA (Kansas)
Archive Number: 20020101.3145

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE, CERVIDS - USA (KANSAS)
**********************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail, a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: 31 Dec 2001
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Wichita Eagle, 30 Dec 2001 [edited]
<http://web.wichitaeagle.com/content/wichitaeagle/2001/12/30/outdoors/deer12
30_t
xt.htm>

Beginning with Tuesday's opening of the special whitetail antlerless deer
season, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) conservation officers
will be afield to make sure sportsmen follow the rules. Agency biologists
will
also be afield in south-central and southeastern Kansas, largely on the
lookout
for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Lloyd Fox, KDWP big-game program
coordinator, said they'll be collecting tissue samples in the vicinity of
several privately owned big-game herds.
Biologists will collect brain tissue samples at assorted processing
facilities
and from hunters in the areas of commercial game farms.
KDWP has done tests on western Kansas deer for several years during the
regular
firearms season and has never found evidence of the disease. Though found in
mule deer and elk herds where Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska share borders,
the disease wasn't found in Kansas until last month, when it showed up at a
private elk herd near Anthony.
"It was found at a private elk ranch in Colorado. When they started doing
checks of where they'd shipped animals, they found one elk on the ranch near
Anthony, Kansas," Fox said. He said 2 other Kansas ranches, both in the
northwestern part of the state, had received elk from the ranch. Both ranches
tested negative.
Fox said it's possible the infected animal near Anthony could have passed the
disease to local wild deer, which could spread it to others. So far, the
disease that's always fatal to deer and elk has never been passed to
livestock
or humans.
Sportsmen concerned about the disease are advised not to shoot any antlerless
whitetails looking sick or acting abnormally. Fox requests the nearest
Wildlife
and Parks biologist or conservation officer be contacted immediately in those
cases.
Worried hunters can wear rubber or latex gloves to reduce the chances of
exposure, should avoid the brain and spinal cord, and should bone out their
meat before processing. Hands should always be washed after contact with any
deer.
Biologists will also be trying to monitor the age and gender ratios of deer
taken during the January season. "Specifically, we'll be looking at the
percentages of mature bucks taken that have already dropped their antlers,"
Fox
said. "That's been a pretty big concern with some sportsmen."
As in years past, the season's harvest is restricted to antlerless
whitetails.
Unused permits allowing the harvest of a buck or mule deer during earlier
seasons revert to "whitetail antlerless-only" status.
Sportsmen must follow unit restrictions if listed on the permit or game tag.
Fox predicts hunters will have a tougher time filling permits and tags this
year because of major dents put in the state's whitetail herd in recent years.
******
[2]
Date: 31 Dec 2001
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, 17 Dec 2001 [edited]
<http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/NewsRele/121701.html>

PRATT -- Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) officials are
planning
extra precautions to monitor the health of deer in Kansas, following the
recent
occurrence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a captive elk herd near
Anthony.
The department will collect tissue specimens from deer taken by hunters in
the
vicinity of that facility, as well as other game ranches around the state,
during the Jan. 1-13 whitetail antlerless-only deer season.
In recent years, KDWP staff, working in conjunction with USDA and Kansas
Animal
Health Department specialists, have collected approximately 300 deer
annually.
Testing of those samples for CWD has been at USDA laboratories in Iowa.
None of
the Kansas wild deer specimens has tested positive for the disease. The
collection has been conducted primarily in western Kansas, due to the
occurrence of the disease in free-ranging mule deer in the neighboring states
of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska.
CWD was first documented by biologists in the mid-1960's in captive deer held
at wildlife research facilities in Fort Collins, Colorado. The disease is
rare
and geographically limited; fewer than 500 cases have been documented since
monitoring began in 1981, mostly in captive herds and among free-ranging mule
deer in northeastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, and the Nebraska
Panhandle.
The disease is similar to scrapie in sheep and mad cow disease in cattle, but
there is no evidence it has been transmitted to domestic livestock. The
disease
is most prevalent among captive deer and elk. CWD can spread from elk to
deer,
and vice versa, so Kansas officials are taking extra precautions to limit its
occurrence. The infected animal at the privately-owned Anthony game ranch had
been purchased from an elk ranch in Colorado. Three game ranches in Kansas
had
purchased a total of 11 animals from the same area in Colorado.
Though 9 of those elk were slaughtered for laboratory analysis, no additional
occurrence of the disease was found. Currently, there is no live animal test
for CWD, which is a member of a family of diseases known as transmissible
spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Deer and elk affected with CWD show
progressive loss of body condition, accompanied by behavioral changes. In
later
stages, symptoms exhibited by infected animals include emaciated body
condition, excessive salivation, increased drinking and urination, stumbling,
and trembling.

Scrapie, a disease related to CWD, has existed in sheep for hundreds of
years.
There never has been a case of a human infected with scrapie, even among
people
who work with sheep and the millions of people who eat lamb and mutton.
However, within the TSE family of diseases, there are also 2 main variants
that
affect humans -- Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, (CJD) which occurs naturally in
about one out of every one million people; and New Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (vCJD or nvCJD), which has been linked to the large-scale outbreak of
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Great Britain.
Due to the developing body of information on chronic wasting disease, there
are
a few sensible precautions hunters may take:
1. Don't shoot an animal that is acting abnormally or looks sick or
emaciated.
2. If you see a deer that fits that description, immediately contact the
nearest KDWP conservation officer or district wildlife biologist.
3. Wear rubber or latex gloves when you field-dress harvested deer.
4. In areas where CWD has been reported, minimize contact with a dead deer's
brain and spinal cord, and wash your hands after contact.
5. Bone out deer meat and do not include brains or spinal cord.
6. Bury the unused parts of the deer carcass.
Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) is serving as a national clearinghouse of
information and resources concerning chronic wasting disease research.
For more details and information resources, visit the DOW website:

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
.......................mpp/tg/pg/es
*##########################################################*
ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the reports that
are posted, but the accuracy and completeness of the
information, and of any statements or opinions based
thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in
using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID
and its associated service providers shall not be held
responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any
damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted
or archived material.
************************************************************
Visit ProMED-mail's web site at <http://www.promedmail.org>.
Send all items for posting to: promed@promedmail.org
(NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your
full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send
commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help,
etc. to: majordomo@promedmail.org. For assistance from a
human being send mail to: owner-majordomo@promedmail.org.
############################################################
############################################################