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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: 22 Dec 2010
Source: NV Daily [edited]
Chronic wasting disease likely could threaten the region's deer
population for years, according to the state agency studying the illness.
A 4-point buck killed in western Frederick County in late November
2010 tested positive for the disease, according to a news release
from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The positive test marked only the 2nd time the disease has appeared
in a deer specimen in Virginia, according to the release. A hunter
shot the buck near the West Virginia line, less than 2 miles from
where Virginia's 1st case of CWD appeared last year [2009], the
agency reported.
"The one thing this does is it confirms that last year's [2009] was
not a fluke," said Nelson Lafon, deer project coordinator for the
department. "We know the disease is in the area, and it means we're
in this for the long haul, and we've kinda told hunters and folks at
those public meetings we held that we see ourselves doing this
[testing] for years."
The agency foresees collecting 500 samples or more from the
containment area during each hunting season and monitoring the
disease in the hopes it doesn't spread, Lafon said.
The state's counterparts in West Virginia continue to find cases of
CWD in neighboring Hampshire County, WV, according to Lafon. The
agencies remain in contact almost weekly, he said, sharing sample
data and other information to model the prevalence of the disease.
"It is, realistically, all part of the same outbreak," Lafon said.
"Having the presence of that disease and then continuing to find it
right on our border is what concerns us. Even if we somehow knock it
out in Virginia, we still have that source, if you will, on the other
side of the border. It makes it more challenging to combat. You know,
the deer don't know the boundary, and the landscape's pretty much the
same on either side."
The project coordinator said he doesn't think the latest case will
spur more action because the deer was found close to the previous
year's [2009] discovery. The department after last season banned
feeding and rehabilitating deer, moving their waste, carcasses and
parts from the containment area, and put a bag limit in effect for
private lands, according to the press release. "We kind of opened the
tool box, and we're already using pretty much every tool in there,"
Lafon said. "But it does mean that we're gonna continue looking for
the disease."
The department also awaits test results on about 100 more samples.
The agency cannot determine whether to change its strategies until
after the season ends 1 Jan 2011 and the department has received all
test results, according to the release.
The agency lauded hunters for their cooperation in helping with the
study, which covers Shenandoah and Frederick counties west of
Interstate 81 and north of Va. 675 near Edinburg. Hunters submitted
the head and necks of the deer they bagged, and the department tested
the samples for the disease, along with carcasses of those killed on the road.
"Hunters have done just about everything they can," he said.
More than a week remains in this deer-hunting season, and the
department continues to urge successful hunters to submit samples in
the refrigerated stations set up at designated locations. Collection
centers likely will be open 2 Jan 2011 for hunters to drop off
samples, Lafon said.
CWD, which affects the nervous system, has been detected in 18 states
and 2 Canadian provinces. The disease [eventually] kills the infected
deer, elk or moose, but no evidence exists to show the animals can
naturally transmit the illness to humans, livestock or pets,
according to the release.
Visit
information.
[Byline: Alex Bridges]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
[This does not seem to represent an expansion of the disease beyond
last year's 2009 containment zone. Although the state has referenced
last year, it refers to the last hunting season, which ended in January 2010.
The specimen referred to in the article above may lead us to believe
that either the animal was early in its infection and not showing
clinical signs, or the hunter saw an affected deer and gave it a
rapid death. We are not told the condition of the animal, but most
hunters are looking for healthy animals, so likely this deer was not
showing clinical signs.
As a positive animal, does the department issue a hunting tag to
allow this hunter to try for another animal? While there is no
evidence that this disease affects people, most people dispose of the
meat as an exercise in an abundance of caution. This disease has been
in the United States since the 1960's and possibly farther back than
that without evidence of it affecting humans or other predators. - Mod.TG]
[see also:
Chronic wasting disease, cervid - USA (02): (VA) 20100124.0261]
................................................sb/tg/msp/mpp
More about CWD; http://www.welcometohunting.com/video/CWD/cable/cwd.html
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