The APHIS Final Rule for interstate transportation of captive cervids was published in the Federal Register on Friday, July 21, 2006. It can be downloaded at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-6367.htm

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2006–The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is finalizing a rule amending its regulations regarding the control and eradication of communicable diseases of livestock to establish a chronic wasting disease (CWD) herd certification program for cervids.

This action provides a necessary and important tool in APHIS’ efforts to eliminate CWD from farmed and captive deer, elk and moose populations.

The final rule standardizes certification requirements that currently vary from state to state. To become certified, cervid herd owners must follow program requirements for animal identification, disease testing, herd management and fencing. Herds that participate in the program for five years with no evidence of CWD may be granted certified status.

The final rule also provides regulations for the interstate movement of cervids. In order to reduce the spread of CWD, only animals from herds participating in the program will be allowed to move interstate. Owners of herds may enroll in a state program equivalent to the federal program, or may enroll directly in the federal program if no state program exists.

CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of cervids that has been found in wild and captive animals in North America and Korea. It was first detected in farmed cervids in the United States in 1997. CWD occurs in multiple species of the deer family, such as deer, elk, and moose, in both captive herds and free-ranging animals. CWD is typified by chronic weight loss that leads to the death of the animal. There has been no evidence to date that CWD can be transmitted to other species of animals, such as cattle, sheep and goats or to humans. Management efforts are essential for reducing the spread of the disease and protecting U.S. cervid herds.

Notice of this final rule was published in July 21 Federal Register and will become effective Oct. 19.

CWD UPDATE 77 July 13, 2006

Presently, there is no evidence of prion diseases in free-living German cervids. This is the result of a study conducted by scientists of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany. The scientists examined more than 7,300 brain samples taken from cervids (roe deer, red deer and fallow deer) in nearly all districts of Germany. All of them tested negative for TSE. Now, after six cases of scrapie in British mouflon sheep, scientists will start a new study to test German mouflon for prion diseases. The aim of this study is to test mouflon all over Germany; with special attention being paid to 20 high-risk areas. A high-risk area is defined by a large number of free-living mouflon or by the occurrence of scrapie in local sheep.

Canada has confirmed a sixth and seventh case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The sixth case was found in a mature crossbred cow from Manitoba, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said. The agency had announced the discovery of a potential case on Jun 30. In an investigation, CFIA officials determined that the owner purchased the cow in 1992 “as part of an assembled group of cattle,” the agency said. This means that the animal was at least 15 years old and was born well before the 1997 start of Canada’s ban on feeding rendered cattle protein to cattle and other ruminant animals. Investigators are attempting to locate the animal’s birth farm, which will help identify herd mates and the feed it was exposed to at an early age. The seventh case was in a 50-month-old dairy cow from Alberta. The CFIA has located the birth farm, and investigators are tracing other cattle born on the premises within 12 months before or after the birth of the affected animal. Both cases of the disease were detected through Canada’s ongoing surveillance program, and no part of the either animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems.

A CWD positive wild white-tailed deer was removed recently at Devil’s Lake State Park in Sauk County, Wisconsin according to the Department of Natural Resources.

The two to three year-old doe was shot by park staff on April 24 on the north side of Devil’s Lake. The animal was targeted because of its emaciated condition, head hanging, and low and easy approachability, all visible indicators of the disease’s late stages. Devil’s Lake State Park is located in the CWD Herd Reduction Zone. This animal is the seventh CWD positive found in Sauk County.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish report the finding of three additional cases of CWD in deer. Two of the deer were located on White Sands Missile Range, where the disease was first detected in New Mexico. The third deer was from the small mountain community of Timberon in the Sacramento Mountains, east of the White Sands site. This brings the total number of positives in New Mexico to 15 deer and two elk.

BROOKINGS, S.D. – A South Dakota State University scientist is doing research that could lead to a live animal test for chronic wasting disease.

The fatal illness, for which there is no known cure, attacks the central nervous system of deer and elk, causing the infected animals to waste away.

Alan Young, associate professor of veterinary science, said developing a culture system for CWD could lead to an early stage diagnosis. Current tests can be done only on dead animals’ brains.

“As far as progress goes, we’re still a few years away from an actual diagnostic assay,” he said.

Young’s research is part of a joint effort between the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Vaccinology and the private research company Rural Technologies Inc.

It focuses on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, a group of diseases caused by abnormal levels of complex proteins called prions.

The most-well-known form of TSE is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease, which struck Britain in the 1980s.

Two cows have been found with the illness in the United States.

The human form is variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, which is believed to have originated from eating infected beef.

TSEs are typically discovered when prions are found in brain tissue during a postmortem test.

But the abnormal proteins also exist in lymph nodes, tonsils and immune cells in the bloodstream.

The problem is the levels are so low, they’re hard to detect, Young said.

His team was able to overcome the problem by focusing on a particular class of immune cells called follicular dendritic cells.

The method involves taking tissues out of an animal and throwing them on a cell type already susceptible to infection.

“Then if you see infection, you know the animal has the disease,” he said.

Although Young’s research is focused on CWD, he hopes the technology will translate to other prion diseases, such as mad cow.

The ultimate beneficiaries of a commercial CWD test will be hunters, game farms and wildlife managers, said Chris Mateo, operations manager for Rural Technologies.

The company is working under a $750,000 small business grant from the U.S. Department of Defense and hopes to have CWD blood test kits ready to sell within two to three years.

Mateo said testing kits, which might retail for $20 to $35, would be marketed to the diagnostic laboratories certified to test for CWD and the country’s captive herd farmers.

There are an estimated 150,000 elk on 2,300 farms and an estimated 550,000 deer on 11,000 farms in the United States, he said.

“They can buy the kit, or send the samples to a diagnostic lab,” Mateo said.

Steve Griffin, a biologist with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, said a live animal test would benefit those tending to captive herds – but not necessarily wildlife officers.

“It’s going to be very helpful for the captive industry. But for the wild animals, it’s not going to help you at all,” Griffin said. “Because you can’t go out and capture every wild animal and test it to see if it’s positive or not.”

CWD UPDATE 75 June 14, 2006

A reminder to the states that will be submitting grant applications to USDA-APHIS for CWD work for the coming year. The deadline for grant applications is July 14, 2006. As in the past, applications should be submitted through the local AVIC. A big thank you to Dean Goeldner for his mammoth effort to keep the contract period the same instead of having to go to a calendar year basis, this helps the states in many untold ways. This year, tier 1 states are eligible for $235,000, tier 2 states $75,000, and tier 3 states $48,000.

Wisconsin DNR has published a human dimensions report on “Landowner Response to Chronic Wasting Disease and its Management in Wisconsin’s Southwest Disease Eradication Zone” by Jordan Petchenik. A copy can be downloaded at dnr.wi.gov/org/es/science/publications/ss1022_2006.htm.

Also from Wisconsin DNR; they report that they have collected a total of 24,782 deer for CWD testing so far. The results from 24,761 of these are in with a total of 179 positives. Fifteen of the positives are from the Herd Reduction Zone while the rest are within the Disease Eradication Zone. Since 2002 they have sampled 99,874 deer and have results back from 99,756, with 634 positives, 18 of those in the Herd Reduction Zone.

South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks reports that they have tested 3,248 samples with 5 positive elk, 4 positive mule deer, and 4 positive whitetail deer; all from the area of known occurrence is western South Dakota. To date, South Dakota has found 46 cases of CWD (32 deer and 14 elk) in free ranging deer and elk since testing began in 1997. Wind Cave National Park accounts for 14 of these animals (6 elk, 8 deer). A total of 12,298 wild deer and elk have been tested for CWD since 1997. They will continue to sample sick cervids for CWD. Wind Cave National Park also continues to conduct CWD surveillance.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission reports two additional CWD positives, both adult male mule deer from Box Butte County. These two animals were exhibiting the clinical signs of CWD, were collected, and tested positive. They were located in the focal area east of Alliance, Nebraska where previous CWD positives have been detected.

The Alberta Fish and Wildlife Division reports that a total of 9 wild deer have tested positive in their province, bringing the total number of positives to 13 since the first case was detected in September of 2005. The winter disease control program removed 1,688 wild deer in the vicinity of Empress and Acadia Valley were 4 deer had tested positive as well as Chauvin where Saskatchewan finds infected deer adjacent to the border. The majority of Alberta’s cases are clustered along the South Saskatchewan River and Red Deer River, both within 10 kilometers of the border. A map of locations in Alberta where CWD has been detected is available at www.srd.gov.ab.ca/fw/diseases/cwd/index.html.