Earlier this year, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported the first confirmed case of the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) within its borders.
The affected animal was a white-tailed deer killed by a hunter; however, wildlife officials are not taking any chances. Tests for this disease are being conducted across the country on hunter-killed wild game such as deer and elk.
The origin of the disease is relatively unknown. It was was detected in free-ranging deer and elk in contiguous portions of northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming during the 1980s. Since then, CDW has been creeping eastward across the U.S.
The disease has popped up sporadically in states such as Utah, South Dakota, and Kansas. More recently, confirmed cases have been discovered in Michigan, and now, Maryland.
The Slow Spread of CWD
Scientists are also unsure what causes CDW, but according to the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance, "The most widely accepted theory is that the agent is a prion, an abnormal form of cellular protein that is most commonly found in the central nervous system and in lymphoid tissue. The prion 'infects' the host animal by promoting conversion of normal cellular protein to the abnormal form."
The alliance goes on to state:
"The CWD infectious agent is smaller than most viral particles and does not evoke any detectable immune response or inflammatory reaction in the host animal. Based on experience with other TSE agents, the CWD infectious agent is assumed to be resistant to enzymes and chemicals that normally break down proteins, as well as resistant to heat and normal disinfecting procedures."
The state of Pennsylvania has yet to discover a case of CDW within the state, and they plan to keep it that way.
According to Dr. Walt Cottrell, Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife veterinarian:
"We already are planning to continue testing hunter-killed deer and elk during the 2011-12 seasons, and we are pleased that the Pennsylvania and U.S. departments of agriculture will continue to play an important role in this disease surveillance program. However, we will also be increasing our surveillance by sampling road-killed deer adjacent to Maryland and investigating every clinically suspect deer that our time and budget allows."
According to a press release from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, "In 2010, 3,882 samples from hunter-killed deer were tested, and CWD was not detected. This marked the ninth year for testing hunter-killed deer. In total, nearly 30,000 deer have been tested. CWD was not detected in any samples from previous years."
However, the Game officials are well aware of the reality of the situation. The disease, no matter how slow, is still spreading.
Cottrell states, "Let's not forget that CWD has been found less than 10 miles away from our border in Maryland, which is likely to be part of the spread of the disease from West Virginia. There is no reason to expect that it will not eventually come into Pennsylvania."
The Spread to Humans
According to current research, there is no evidence that CWD has or can spread to humans.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) seems to agree. According to the CDC, "the risk of infection with the CWD agent among hunters is extremely small, if it exists at all" and "it is extremely unlikely that CWD would be a food-borne hazard."
Though Chronic Wasting Disease is spreading at an incredibly small rate at the moment, and the risk to humans seems extremely low, Wildlife and Game officials are not taking any chances. They are taking measures to prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease from becoming an epidemic, similar to the "mad cow disease" epidemic of the late-90s.
Dennis Dufrene is the resident historian and technical writer. With this background, Dennis brings insight and accuracy to the stories published here at Top Secret Writers. Dennis has 314 post(s) at Top Secret Writers
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