Pennsylvania CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE FOUND IN BLAIR AND BEDFORD COUNTIES GAME COMMISSION TO HOLD CWD NEWS CONFERENCE MONDAY, MARCH 4
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 01, 2013
Release #019-13
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE FOUND IN BLAIR AND BEDFORD COUNTIES GAME COMMISSION
TO HOLD CWD NEWS CONFERENCE MONDAY, MARCH 4
HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Game Commission today confirmed three
hunter-killed deer taken in the 2012 general firearms deer season have tested
positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Two were from Blair County; the
other was from Bedford County.
“These are the first positive cases of CWD in free-ranging deer in
Pennsylvania,” confirmed Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G.
Roe. “The disease was first documented in early October, 2012, by the state
Department of Agriculture in a captive deer on an Adams County deer farm.”
The three hunter-killed deer tissue samples were collected by Game
Commission personnel during annual deer aging field checks during the general
firearms season for deer. The samples were tested and identified as suspect
positive by the Department of Agriculture as part of an ongoing annual statewide
CWD surveillance program. The tissue samples were confirmed to be positive for
CWD by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, as part of
an established verification process.
“The three CWD-positives were part of 2,945 deer sampled for the disease
statewide,” explained Roe. “To date, we have received test results from 1,500
samples, including these three positive samples. Results from the remaining
samples should be available in the next few weeks.”
An additional 2,089 deer were sampled and tested from within the designated
Disease Management Area in Adams and York counties; CWD was not detected in any
of those deer samples. Since 1998, the Game Commission has gathered and
submitted more than 43,000 samples from wild deer and elk for CWD testing. The
three CWD-positives announced today are the first to be confirmed in 15 years of
testing.
“Pennsylvania has an active Interagency CWD Task Force and a dynamic CWD
surveillance program,” Roe noted, “and we will continue to be vigilant and
initiate steps included in the Commonwealth’s CWD Response Plan. We will
continue to work diligently with the Department of Agriculture and other members
of the task force to better manage the threat of this disease to the state’s
captive and wild deer populations.”
The Game Commission is working to identify and engage the hunters who
harvested these CWD-positive deer to confirm where the whitetails were killed. A
meeting of the Interagency CWD Task Force is being convened this afternoon to
discuss the new CWD-positive deer and possible additional actions to determine
the prevalence and distribution of the disease within Pennsylvania, as well as
to contain its spread.
The latest information and updates to existing CWD information can be
accessed on the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us). Public meetings
will be held in the Blair-Bedford County area in coming weeks to share what we
know about these CWD-positive deer and CWD in Pennsylvania, and to answer
questions the public might have about this disease. How these latest
developments may influence hunting regulations and other deer policies are at
this time still contingent upon the results of ongoing testing of samples from
hunter-killed deer, additional surveillance and fieldwork, and Game Commission
and task force deliberations.
CWD is a degenerative brain disease that affects elk, mule deer and
white-tailed deer. It is transmitted by direct animal-to-animal contact through
saliva, feces and urine. CWD is fatal in deer and elk, 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.
Signs of the disease include weight loss, excessive salivation, increased
drinking and urination, and abnormal behavior such as stumbling, trembling and
depression. Infected deer and elk also may allow unusually close approach by
humans or natural predators. 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.
GAME COMMISSION TO HOLD CWD NEWS CONFERENCE MONDAY, MARCH 4
Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe and other
Commonwealth officials will hold a press conference to discuss Chronic Wasting
Disease 2 p.m., Monday, March 4, in the auditorium of the Game Commission’s
Harrisburg Headquarters, 2001 Elmerton Avenue. To keep Pennsylvania hunters and
other residents informed on this breaking story, the press conference also will
be webcast through the agency’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) beginning at 2
p.m. Background on CWD and its limited history in Pennsylvania can be found on
the Game Commission’s CWD Info Page.
For more information on CWD from the departments of Agriculture and
Health, visit:
www.agriculture.state.pa.us (click on the “Chronic Wasting Disease
Information” button on the homepage), and www.health.state.pa.us (click on
“Diseases and Conditions”) ###
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Pennsylvania Confirms First Case CWD Adams County Captive Deer Tests
Positive
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
PENNSYLVANIA Second Adams County Deer Tests Positive for Chronic Wasting
Disease
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
PA Department of Agriculture investigating possible 2nd case of chronic
wasting disease
Thursday, November 01, 2012
PA GAME COMMISSION TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS CWD Release #128-12
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
PENNSYLVANIA 2012 THE GREAT ESCAPE OF CWD
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
PENNSYLVANIA 2012 THE GREAT ESCAPE OF CWD INVESTIGATION MOVES INTO
LOUISIANA and INDIANA
Pennsylvania CWD number of deer exposed and farms there from much greater
than first thought
Published: Wednesday, October 17, 2012, 10:44 PM Updated: Wednesday,
October 17, 2012, 11:33 PM
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
PA Captive deer from CWD-positive farm roaming free
Sunday, January 06, 2013
USDA TO PGC ONCE CAPTIVES ESCAPE "it‘s no longer its business.”
Friday, February 08, 2013
Pennsylvania Additional Deer Farms Released from Chronic Wasting Disease
CWD Quarantines
Friday, February 15, 2013
PENNSYLVANIA CWD UPDATE 9 FARMS ARE STILL UNDER QUARANTINE
Friday, February 08, 2013
*** Behavior of Prions in the Environment: Implications for Prion
Biology
Friday, August 31, 2012
COMMITTEE ON CAPTIVE WILDLIFE AND ALTERNATIVE LIVESTOCK and CWD 2009-2012 a
review
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Captive Deer Breeding Legislation Overwhelmingly Defeated During 2012
Legislative Session
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
*** A Growing Threat How deer breeding could put public trust wildlife at
risk
Friday, November 09, 2012
*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD in cervidae and transmission to other
species
Sunday, November 11, 2012
*** Susceptibilities of Nonhuman Primates to Chronic Wasting Disease
November 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Susceptibility Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in wild cervids to Humans 2005
- December 14, 2012
TSS
posted by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. at
12:13 PM
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