Elk tests positive for CWD UTAH

Posted Thursday, 11 March 2010

Elk tests positive for CWD


Samples from big game animals taken this past hunting season turned up something never seen in Utah before—an elk with chronic wasting disease.

An elk afflicted with chronic wasting disease.

Photo by Dr. Beth Williams The cow elk—along with five buck deer—tested positive for CWD. The six animals were taken on units in Utah where CWD has been found in past years.

CWD was not found in any new areas in Utah this past fall.

"Chronic wasting disease is most prevalent in deer, but sometimes elk and even moose get it," says Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

The cow elk was taken last November on the La Sal Mountains in southeastern Utah. Three of the five deer were also taken on the La Sal Mountains. The two remaining deer were taken on the Central Mountains unit in central Utah.

DWR biologists collected samples from more than 1,100 deer, 37 moose and close to 370 elk this past season.

Since the fall of 2002, the DWR has collected and tested samples from nearly 15,000 mule deer. Of the nearly 15,000 samples, only 48 deer have tested positive for CWD. Thirty-nine of those 48 deer were taken on the La Sal Mountains.

CWD is fatal to deer, elk and moose. But there's no evidence the disease can be transmitted to humans. More information about CWD is available at wildlife.utah.gov/diseases/cwd.


http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/newsflash/42-utah-wildlife-news/229-elk-tests-positive-for-cwd.html




CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE UPDATE 2005 (03)
****************************************
A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail, a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases


Sponsored in part by Elsevier, publisher of
The Lancet Infectious Diseases


[1]
Date 18 Oct 2005
From: Terry S Singeltary Sr
Source: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources [edited]



2 buck deer taken during this year's Utah muzzleloader hunt have tested
positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), the Division of Wildlife
Resources announced on 17 Oct 2005.


http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1202:16562312661036441373::NO::F2400_P1202_CHECK_DISPLAY,F2400_P1202_PUB_MAIL_ID:X,31130




Chronic wasting disease in Utah


http://wildlife.utah.gov/diseases/cwd/




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




TSS