photo from CDFW Website
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been confirmed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on May 6th in two different deer. One deer was from Madera County near Yosemite Lakes and that deer died of unknown causes, the other deer was in Inyo County near Bishop and it was killed in a vehicle collision. CDFW has been sampling deer and elk lymph nodes for CWD since 2000, but these are the first confirmed cases in the state.
CWD is a neurological disease of Cervids (deer family). It can be spread through direct animal to animal contact, contact with saliva, feces, carcass parts and even through soil where tissues or fluids of an infected animal have been. It is relatively easy to spread this disease throughout a large area by the infected animals themselves, and to transport the disease unknowingly to new locations by hunters or scavengers.
CWD is from a family of diseases called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. They are in the form of a normally occurring Protein called a Prion. This particular Protein cannot be broken down by the body like normal proteins and damage the nervous system of infected Cervids. The process may take up to two years before symptoms start to show.
Symptomatic stages of infection are emaciation, erratic behavior, and neurological irregularities. Most infected animals are killed by predators, vehicles, hunters, and other diseases, however CWD is 100% fatal to infected Cervids.
There have been no documented cases of transmission from infected deer or elk to humans to date. There have been many documented case studies of humans who have consumed meat from animals who tested positive for CWD, with no disease transmission. Laboratory studies have however been able to morph the protein to a form that can infect primates, and possibly humans, therefore it is recommended that humans not consume meat from animals know to be infected.
To date, it has been found in wild or captive Cervids in 34 states, 5 Canadian Provinces, Norway, and South Korea…and now California. While research has shown that prions may be present in a wide variety of tissues and body fluids, they are most prevalent in the brain, eyes, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils, and spleen. It is recommended that hunter’s bone out harvested Cervids in the field, and take extra precautions when handling organs where prions are most likely to accumulate.
Sustained heat, for multiple hours at temperatures above 900 degrees Fahrenheit will kill the prions, so cooking does not destroy these particular proteins. Prions are also resistant to disinfection, you should wash hands and tools thoroughly after field dressing. Cutting boards and other items used for field dressing or processing should be soaked for 5 minutes in a 40% solution of household bleach to inactivate prions. It is also recommended to always wear rubber gloves anytime you eviscerate any animal, so that is especially important now. If you suspect your harvested animal my have CWD, or simply wish to have it tested, check with CDFW and find a check station, where they will likely take one of the lymph nodes for testing. Some butcher shops and taxidermists will also provide sampling as well.
If you see an animal exhibiting symptoms like emaciation or odd neurological behavior, it may not necessarily be CWD, other diseases and parasites can cause similar symptoms. It is important however to report this activity and the location to your local Fish and Wildlife department so further investigation can happen. You should not attempt to capture or kill such animals, just report them, for your own safety and legalities.
More information can be found at : https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Laboratories/Wildlife-Health/Monitoring/CWD
And also at : https://cwd-info.org/
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