Tests Confirm CWD Case in Pennsylvania Release #001-14
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 02, 2014
Release #001-14
TESTS CONFIRM CWD CASE
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.
###
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
Molecular Barriers to Zoonotic Transmission of Prions
*** chronic wasting disease, there was no absolute barrier to conversion of
the human prion protein.
*** Furthermore, the form of human PrPres produced in this in vitro assay
when seeded with CWD, resembles that found in the most common human prion
disease, namely sCJD of the MM1 subtype.
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
APHIS-2006-0118-0100 Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program and
Interstate Movement of Farmed or Captive Deer, Elk, and Moose
Saturday, November 30, 2013
PENNSYLVANIA Hunt smart: CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION UPDATE
Hunt smart: CWD confirmed in one region of state
TSS
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
posted by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. at
10:17 AM
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