Release Date: June 1, 2018

Media Contacts:
Leeann Duwe, Communications Specialist, 608-224-5005
Bill Cosh, Communications Director, 608-224-5020

MADISON – The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has quarantined a deer farm in Dane County and an elk farm in Richland County due to chronic wasting disease (CWD). This is a result of the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, IA confirming on May 31 that samples from a 15-year old whitetail doe and a 2-year old elk cow were positive for CWD.

The 10-acre Dane County deer farm has six whitetail deer that have been registered with DATCP since 2003. The farm has been double-fenced since 2009. Since 2010, the farm has had 20 deer sampled for CWD.

Since March, the 20-acre Richland County elk farm has had 11 elk and there have been no elk purchases or sales on the farm in the past five years. Since 2007, the farm has had 25 elk sampled for CWD.

CWD is a fatal, neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose caused by an infectious protein that affects the animal’s brain. Testing for CWD can only be performed after the deer’s death. For more information about CWD visit DATCP’s website. DATCP regulates deer farms for registration, recordkeeping, disease testing, movement, and permit requirements. To learn more about deer farm regulations in Wisconsin, visit DATCP’s farm-raised deer program. The Department of Natural Resources also provides resources for CWD and monitors the state’s wild white-tailed deer for CWD.

End of article.
Article can found here: DATCP website

In Wisconsin, Chronic Wasting Disease s concentrated among white-tailed deer in southwestern and southeastern counties. Photo: USDA Agricultural Research Service

New research out of the University of Wisconsin–Madison has, for the first time, detected prions responsible for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in samples taken from sites where deer congregate.

Scientists searched for prions at mineral licks — areas where deer seek out essential nutrients and minerals — in the CWD endemic area across south-central Wisconsin. Out of 11 sites, nine had detectable levels of the disease-causing misfolded proteins. Prions were found both in soil and in water from the sites, as well as in nearby fecal samples from one site.

This research helps confirm longstanding suspicions that prions can accumulate in the environment in areas such as mineral licks or feeding and baiting sites where deer congregate.  Scientists believe that environmental reservoirs of prions could serve as an additional transmission route of CWD, which also passes between deer through direct contact. Environmental reservoirs of prions are not expected to pose a health hazard to humans but could be a potential source of transmission to other animals.

In Wisconsin, CWD is concentrated in southwestern and southeastern counties. More than 30 percent of adult male deer are infected in portions of Iowa County, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The disease is fatal and is transmitted through infectious prion proteins. It is unknown if humans can contract CWD from eating infected meat, but the World Health Organization has recommended that people avoid doing so. No cases of human transmission have been reported.

The study, which was funded by the U.S. Geological Survey with support from the National Science Foundation, was published May 2 in the journal PLOS ONE. Michael Samuel, an emeritus professor of wildlife ecology, and Joel Pedersen, a professor of soil science, led the work, with colleagues in forest and wildlife ecology and the Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

“This is the first time that anyone has demonstrated the existence of prions in naturally contaminated soil,” says Pedersen.

Environmental prions have previously been shown to infect deer in heavily contaminated experimental enclosures of deer. In 2009, researchers in Colorado also identified prions in untreated water entering a water treatment plant.

Locations of sampled mineral licks and prevalence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in hunter-harvested white-tailed deer from 2010–2013 in south-central Wisconsin, USA. Squares are townships of 9.66 km per side. Inset shows state of Wisconsin, USA. Site 6 denotes the mineral lick with CWD-positive fecal samples. Photo courtesy of PLOS ONE

The prions were detected using a technique that amplifies the small amount of misfolded, diseased version of prion proteins isolated from soil or water samples. The misfolded varieties are added to a pool of properly folded proteins from mice engineered to produce them. The diseased folding state is transmitted to properly folded proteins, increasing the number of diseased prions and facilitating measurement.

It is not clear if the quantity of soil-dwelling prions detected in the current study are sufficient to infect deer.

“Although we are able to detect prions, quantifying the amount present is still difficult using this technique,” says Pedersen. Previous research by the Pedersen lab has demonstrated that soil-bound prions are more effective than free prions at infecting hamsters.

“It’s a great advance for trying to understand how this disease transmits in the environment,” says Rodrigo Morales, a professor of neurology and prion researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston who was not affiliated with the study. “It explains what could be the main source of (transmission).”

Samuel says the significance of prion-contaminated environments in the spread and persistence of CWD among free-ranging deer remains unknown.

“We know it can occur, but we just don’t know how it occurs in the wild, or how important it is relative to deer contacting each other,” says Samuel.

Ten of the mineral lick sites tested in the study were artificial, while one was natural. Nine of the 11 sites were on private land and were tested with permission of the landowner.

“We manage most diseases by trying to interrupt their spread. Having CWD concentrated at animal licks means that’s going to be difficult,” says Don Waller, a professor of botany and environmental studies at UW–Madison who researches Wisconsin’s deer herds and was not involved in the study.

“It’s not easy to test for CWD, but this result suggests we should be looking for hot-spots of CWD prions in the environment and doing all we can to cover them up so animals can’t get to them. We may also want to do more testing in other animal species to see which may be vulnerable to CWD infection,” says Waller.

End of article

The published research article can be found here Mineral licks as environmental reservoirs of chronic wasting disease prions (PLOS)

MADISON – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has confirmed that a wild deer has tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Oneida County, in the Crescent Township.

As required by law, this finding will renew Oneida County’s existing baiting and feeding ban for another three years. Additionally, this positive will renew the two-year baiting and feeding ban in Langlade County.

The CWD-positive one-year-old doe was harvested on a disease surveillance permit issued within a 10-mile radius of the recent Lincoln County positive detection. This is Oneida County’s first CWD-positive wild deer.

“This Oneida County detection is a direct result of our surveillance efforts put in place in response to the Lincoln CWD positive,” said Eric Lobner, DNR Bureau Director for the Wildlife Management program. “We will continue to work with local communities to promote CWD surveillance and awareness in the area.”

In response to the detection of this new CWD positive deer, the department will take the following steps:

Continue to work with the local County Deer Advisory Council members in disease surveillance around this positive location.
Conduct surveillance activities to assess disease distribution and prevalence including:
Encourage reporting of sick deer
Sample vehicle-killed adult deer
Sample adult deer harvested under agricultural damage permits
Sample adult deer harvested under urban deer hunts in the area
Establish additional CWD sampling locations prior to the 2018 deer seasons.
These actions are very important for assessing the potential geographic distribution of the disease and if other animals in proximity to the new positive test are infected.

As has been demonstrated in the past in other parts of the state, local citizen involvement in the decision-making process as well as management actions to address this CWD detection will have the greatest potential for success.

For more information regarding baiting and feeding regulations and CWD in Wisconsin, and how to have adult deer tested during the 2018/2019 hunting seasons, visit the department’s website, dnr.wi.gov, and search “bait and feeding” and “CWD sampling” respectively. To report a sick deer on the landscape, search keywords “sick deer” or contact a local wildlife biologist.

Last Revised: Friday, April 20, 2018

Contact(s): Bill Hogseth, wildlife biologist for Eau Claire and Chippewa counties, 715-839-3771

MADISON – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has confirmed that a wild deer has tested positive for chronic wasting disease in western Eau Claire County, near the town of Brunswick.

As required by law, this finding will renew Eau Claire County’s existing three-year baiting and feeding ban, effective May 1, 2018. Because this new CWD-positive result is located within 10 miles of Buffalo, Chippewa, Dunn, Pepin and Trempealeau counties, these counties will now be designated as CWD-affected counties. Additionally, two-year baiting and feeding bans for these five counties will be enacted on May 1.

The department collected a two-year-old doe in response to a sick deer call from a landowner and submitted samples for testing. This CWD positive animal is the first confirmed wild deer to test positive for the disease in Eau Claire County.

“While this latest detection is disheartening and is certainly cause for concern in Eau Claire and the surrounding counties, it demonstrates the importance of local involvement in our monitoring efforts,” said DNR Secretary Dan Meyer. “Receiving the sick deer call from this concerned landowner allowed us to apply our sick deer response protocol and respond quickly to investigate a potential new CWD detection.

In response to the detection of this new CWD positive deer, the department will take the following steps to respond::

Convene a meeting with the local County Deer Advisory Council members from the 6 counties impacted by this detection to decide on future management actions specific to this detection.
Establish a 10-mile radius disease surveillance area around this positive location
Conduct surveillance activities to assess disease distribution and prevalence including:
Encourage reporting of sick deer
Sample vehicle-killed adult deer
Sample adult deer harvested under agricultural damage permits
Sample adult deer harvested under urban deer hunts in the area
Establish additional CWD sampling locations prior to the 2018 deer seasons
These actions are very important for assessing the potential geographic distribution of the disease and if other animals in proximity to the new positive test are infected.

As has been demonstrated in the past in other parts of the state, local citizen involvement in the decision-making process as well as management actions to address this CWD detection will have the greatest potential for success.

For more information regarding baiting and feeding regulations and CWD in Wisconsin, and how to have adult deer tested during the 2018/2019 hunting seasons, visit the department’s website, dnr.wi.gov, and search “bait and feeding” and “CWD sampling” respectively. To report a sick deer on the landscape, search keywords “sick deer” or contact a local wildlife biologist.

Last Revised: Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Release Date: March 8, 2018

Media Contact: Bill Cosh, Communications Director, 608-224-5020, William2.Cosh@wi.gov

MADISON – A white-tailed deer from a breeding farm in Washington County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), Wisconsin State Veterinarian Dr. Paul McGraw announced today. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the test results.

The buck was born on the 15-acre farm in May 2015. It was part of a herd of 58 whitetails, along with 13 elk, according to the owner’s most recent registration. The owner found it dead from injuries apparently sustained in a fight. The deer had previously appeared healthy. It was sampled in accordance with Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) rules, which require testing of farm-raised deer and elk when they die or are killed.

The farm has been enrolled in the CWD Herd Status Program since 2003. All deer from herds enrolled in the CWD Herd Status Program must be tested for CWD if they die or are killed on the farm.

The farm has been quarantined, an automatic action upon a positive CWD test, which stops movement of deer off the premises. DATCP’s Animal Health Division will investigate the animal’s history and trace movements of deer onto and off the farm to determine whether other herds may have been exposed to the CWD-positive deer.

Article can be found here https://datcp.wi.gov/Pages/News_Media/20180308CWDPositiveWashingtonCounty.aspx