By: Terry Bender and Dustin Rozier

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By Terry Bender and Dustin Rozier Students of
Dr. James Corbett Lowndes County High
School Valdosta, Georgia November, 2002
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• What is Chronic Wasting Disease?
• Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a relatively new
  disease that is a threat to North American deer
  populations.
• CWD is a brain disease related to Bovine
  Spongiform Encephalopathy, also known as "Mad Cow
  Disease.
• CWD makes the deer or elk waste away before
  dying.

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• CWD appears to be caused by an abnormal protein
  called a prion.
• CWD can be spread by close contact between
  animals, and animals exposed to a
  CWD-contaminated environment may also become
  infected.
• Usually, months to years pass from when the
  animal is infected to when it shows signs of
  disease.
• Classic CWD signs in deer/elk 18 months or older
  include poor body condition, tremors, stumbling,
  increased salivation, difficulty swallowing, and
  excessive thirst or urination.

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Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease.
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Testing for CWD

• There has been no way to test a live animal for
  CWD the brain from a recently dead animal is
  examined microscopically.
• Researchers in Colorado are developing a live
  animal test for deer, using tonsil biopsies.
• CWD was first recognized by biologists in the
  1960s as a disease syndrome of captive deer held
  in wildlife research facilities in Ft. Collins,
  CO, but was not recognized as a transmissible
  spongiform encephalopathy(TSE) until the late
  1970s.

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What Animals does CWD Effect, and where is this
disease Found?

• CWD affects elk, mule and white-tailed deer.
• It has been diagnosed in free-ranging deer and
  elk primarily in northeastern Colorado/southeaster
  n Wyoming and adjacent Nebraska, but has been
  found in captive elk in Colorado, Kansas,
  Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, and
  South Dakota.

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• Is CWD a human health hazard?
• The World Health Organization has said there is
  no scientific evidence CWD can infect humans.
  However, WHO also says no part of a deer or elk
  with evidence of CWD should be eaten by people or
  other animals. Over 16 years of monitoring in the
  infected area in Colorado has found no disease in
  people or cattle living there.
• Concern hit Europe in the 1990s when scientists
  linked beef from animals infected with mad cow
  disease to the spread of variant
  Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which has killed more
  than 100 people, mostly in Britain. No cases of
  mad cow disease have been detected in cattle
  herds in the United States.

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Can this disease be spread to our cattle?

• Weve examined more than 1,500 animals from
  throughout the state including Middle and North
  Park, the Gunnison area, the Uncompahgre Plateau,
  San Luis Valley the Piceanace Basin, the Colorado
  Springs and Canon City areas, and other areas in
  northwestern Colorado over the past four years,
  Miller said. None have been infected with
  wasting disease.
• Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible
  spongiform encaphelopathy, or TSE, that includes
  such diseases as scrapie in sheep, bovine
  spongiform enceophalopathy (BSE) in cattle (Mad
  Cow Disease), Creutzfeld Jacobs Disease (CJD), a
  rare brain disease in humans, and Kuru once found
  among New Guinea tribesmen who ate the brains of
  their dead relatives.

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In the study conducted by the University of
Wyoming, Colorado Division of Wildlife, cattle
were inoculated in the mouth or placed near
infected animals, a scenario that would replicate
nature, Williams said. The animals from the two
groups have not shown any indications, although
three of 13 cattle inoculated directly in the
brain did develop evidence of chronic wasting.
"Cattle exposed via more natural routes of
exposure have shown no evidence of CWD," Williams
said.
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• What Should Georgia Hunters Do?
• Wear rubber gloves when field dressing carcasses
• Bone out the meat from your animal
• Minimize handling of brain and spinal tissues
• Wash hands and tools thoroughly after field
  dressing
• Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen,
  tonsils and lymph nodes
• Avoid consuming the meat from any animal that
  tests positive for the disease
• Request that your animal is processed
  individually, without meat from other animals
  being added to meat from your animal.

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• HOW DO WE KEEP CWD OUT OF GEORGIA?
• Halt importation of all deer species. It is
  illegal to import white-tailed deer to Georgia.
• Continue to prohibit canned hunting operations. 
• Prohibit baiting of deer for hunting, which would
  aid the spread of CWD. 
• Discourage management practices that result in
  high concentrations of deer over small
  areas. Examples include supplemental feeding,
  baiting of deer, and lack of adequate doe
  harvest.

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WHAT HAPPENS IF CWD GETS IN A DEER HERD? The
abnormal protein is quite stable and may remain a
threat in the soil for years. The only management
possibility is complete depopulation of deer in
the affected area. This step is underway in parts
of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.
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WHAT YOU CAN DO? Hunters should report any
violations of  Georgia laws including illegal
importation of deer or elk and illegal baiting by
calling 1-800-241-4113. The Wildlife Resources
Division will be asking some hunt clubs for help
with preventive surveillance. Please help if
contacted by an agency biologist.
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GON is offering a 1,000 reward for information
on illegal transporting of deer into the state of
Georgia.
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The End