Canada Alta. finds CWD cases roaming further south and west than previously detected

March 19, 2010

New cases of chronic wasting disease found in wild deer

Hunters continue to play important role in disease surveillance

Edmonton... Twelve new cases of chronic wasting disease have been identified in wild deer as a result of Alberta’s fall surveillance program. Hunters have submitted more than 4,800 wild deer heads for testing since September 1, 2009.

One new case was detected south of Highway 1, 25 kilometres south of Medicine Hat. Another case was found just east of Highway 884 along the Red Deer River. These cases mark the furthest south and west locations where chronic wasting disease has been detected. The remaining 10 cases were detected near past positive cases. Eleven of the 12 new positive cases were mule deer and nine of the hunter-killed cases were adult males, including an adult male white-tailed deer. The chronic wasting disease hunter surveillance program for 2009-2010 cost $500,000.

Sustainable Resource Development continues to talk with stakeholders and landowners in the area to discuss plans for management. Current strategies for monitoring the spread of chronic wasting disease include maximizing the harvest of deer in risk areas and continuing to test for the disease. This includes testing road-kill and any wild deer that may show symptoms of chronic wasting disease, which includes loss of coordination, weight loss, excessive salivating and isolation from other deer.

The 12 new cases, along with an emaciated deer found in June, bring the total to 13 new cases of chronic wasting disease found in 2009. Since the first case of chronic wasting disease was detected in 2005, there have been 74 cases of the disease detected in wild deer in the province. Ongoing surveillance of wild deer and elk in Alberta began in 1996. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that chronic wasting disease can affect humans. For more information on the chronic wasting disease program, visit www.srd.alberta.ca/BioDiversityStewardship/WildlifeDiseases.


-30- Backgrounder: Map of chronic wasting disease cases in wild deer in Alberta.

Media inquiries may be directed to: Darcy Whiteside Communications Sustainable Resource Development 780-427-8636

To call toll free within Alberta dial 310-0000.

http://alberta.ca/home/NewsFrame.cfm?ReleaseID=/acn/201003/2801876FA80BF-A3F4-AD61-CBC5F8BE63D25DFF.html


Alta. finds CWD cases roaming south, west

Staff 3/19/2010 3:00:00 PM

Related ItemsMore News by TopicLivestock

While Alberta's fall surveillance program for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild deer has turned up fewer cases than last year's, deer with the disease were found further south and west than previously detected.

Hunters have submitted more than 4,800 wild deer heads for testing since Sept. 1, 2009, the province said in a release Friday. Of the 12 new cases of CWD identified, 10 were detected near past positive cases.

One new case, however, was detected south of Highway 1, 25 kilometres south of Medicine Hat. Another case was found just east of Highway 884 along the Red Deer River.

The 12 new cases, along with an "emaciated" deer found in June, bring the total to 13 new cases of CWD found in 2009, down from 25 in 2008. Since the first case of CWD was found in the province in 2005, there have been 74 cases in Alberta's wild deer.

Eleven of the 12 new positive cases from the fall program were mule deer and nine of the hunter-killed cases were adult males, including an adult male white-tailed deer, the province said.

Current strategies for monitoring the spread of CWD include "maximizing the harvest" of deer in risk areas and continuing the testing program. The province has run ongoing surveillance in elk and wild deer since 1996.

The province's surveillance program includes testing roadkill and any wild deer that may show CWD symptoms, such as loss of co-ordination, weight loss, excessive salivating and isolation from other deer.

The province's sustainable resource development ministry said it "continues to talk with stakeholders and landowners in the area to discuss plans for management."

According to Saskatchewan's environment ministry, CWD was unintentionally introduced into farmed elk population taken from South Dakota and has since been introduced to Saskatchewan, Alberta and Korea. The economics of trade in live elk and their products, such as antler velvet, has been affected as a result.

Because CWD belongs to the group of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) diseases along with BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, the association has led to possible public health concerns -- although there remains no scientific evidence that CWD can infect humans.

The disease can be transmitted from one animal to another, mainly through contaminated saliva or contaminated feed and water. Infectious material can survive in the environment for an unknown period -- at least three years, the Saskatchewan government said.

CWD has also been found in three isolated geographic areas of Saskatchewan's northeast, northwest and southwest.

http://www.country-guide.ca/west/issues/ISArticle.asp?aid=1000364688&PC=FBC&issue=03192010


http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/disemala/cwdmdc/cwdmdcfse.shtml


Friday, February 26, 2010

Chronic wasting disease found in Missouri deer February 25, 2010

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/02/chronic-wasting-disease-found-in.html


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Chronic Wasting Disease Found in White-tailed Deer in Virginia

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/01/chronic-wasting-disease-found-in-white.html


Thursday, March 04, 2010

TEN KANSAS DEER CONFIRMED POSITIVE IN CWD TESTS

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/03/ten-kansas-deer-confirmed-positive-in_04.html


In Confidence - Perceptions of unconventional slow virus diseases of animals in the USA - APRIL-MAY 1989 - G A H Wells

3. Prof. A Robertson gave a brief account of BSE. The US approach was to accord it a very low profile indeed. Dr. A Thiermann showed the picture in the ''Independent'' with cattle being incinerated and thought this was a fanatical incident to be avoided in the US at all costs. BSE was not reported in the USA.

snip...

CWD occurred principally in two locations, this one at Sybille and in a similar faccility at Fort Collins, Colorado, some 120 miles southwest. It was estimated that in total probably 60-70 cases of CWD have occurred.

It was difficult to gain a clear account of incidence and temporal sequence of events (-this presumably is data awaiting publication - see below) but during the period 1981-1984, 10-15 cases occurred at the Sybille facility.

The moribidity amongst mule deer in the facilities ie. those of the natural potentially exposed group has been about 90% with 100% mortality.

snip...

Spraker suggested an interesting explanation for the occurrence of CWD. The deer pens at the Foot Hills Campus were built some 30-40 years ago by a Dr. Bob Davis. At or abut that time, allegedly, some scrapie work was conducted at this site. When deer were introduced to the pens they occupied ground that had previously been occupied by sheep.

see full text 33 pages ;


http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf



http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/



Thursday, March 18, 2010

CWD Found in Southwestern North Dakota Deer

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/03/cwd-found-in-southwestern-north-dakota.html


Thursday, March 18, 2010 175 DEER TEST POSITIVE FOR CWD IN WISCONSIN

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/03/175-deer-test-positive-for-cwd-in.html



Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Chronic Wasting Disease: Surveillance Update: February 2010

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/02/chronic-wasting-disease-surveillance.html



Friday, March 19, 2010

CWD infected deer B cells and platelets harbor prion infectivity in the blood

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/03/cwd-infected-deer-b-cells-and-platelets.html



Tuesday, August 04, 2009 Susceptibilities of Nonhuman Primates to Chronic Wasting Disease

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/08/susceptibilities-of-nonhuman-primates.html



Sunday, April 12, 2009

CWD UPDATE Infection Studies in Two Species of Non-Human Primates and one Environmental reservoir infectivity study and evidence of two strains

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/04/cwd-update-infection-studies-in-two.html


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