Category: Disease, Parasites & Virus

CWD in Kimble County

The spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) across Texas continues. Unfortunately, the latest instance is CWD in Kimble County. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is reporting that CWD has been discovered in a 5 ½-year-old white-tailed deer in a Kimble County deer breeding facility, marking the first positive detection of the disease in the county.

The tissue samples submitted by the breeding facility as part of routine deer mortality surveillance revealed the presence of CWD during testing at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) in College Station Feb. 6. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the findings on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Response in Kimble County

Officials have taken immediate action to secure all cervids at the Kimble County deer breeding facility with plans to conduct additional investigation for CWD. In addition, those breeding facilities that have received deer from the Kimble County facility or shipped deer to that facility during the last five years are under movement restrictions and cannot move or release cervids at this time, or they have completed the necessary testing to ensure that CWD was not transferred to their facility.

“The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is working in coordination with the Texas Animal Health Commission and other agencies to launch an epidemiological investigation to determine the extent of the disease, assess risks to Texas’ free ranging deer and protect the captive deer breeding industry,” said Dr. Bob Dittmar, TPWD wildlife veterinarian. “We want to thank landowners and the Texas hunting community for its strong support of our detection, sampling and herd management efforts – we cannot combat the spread of CWD without it.”

Although animal health and wildlife officials cannot say how long or to what extent the disease has been present in the Kimble County deer breeding facility, the breeder has had an active CWD surveillance program since 2011 with no positives detected until now.

“TAHC is working with TPWD to quickly assess and determine the extent of diseases prevalence in the herd and mitigate the spread of CWD,” said Dr. Susan Rollo, TAHC State Epidemiologist.

CWD in Kimble County, Texas

The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in Colorado. CWD has also been documented in captive and/or free-ranging deer in 26 states and 3 Canadian provinces.

In Texas, the disease was first discovered in 2012 in free-ranging mule deer along a remote area of the Hueco Mountains near the Texas-New Mexico border, and has since been detected in 169 white-tailed deer, red deer and mule deer in Dallam, El Paso, Hartley, Hudspeth, Kimble, Lavaca, Medina, Uvalde and Val Verde counties, 129 of which are connected to deer breeding facilities and release sites.

What is CWD?

CWD among cervids is a progressive, fatal neurological disease that commonly results in altered behavior as a result of microscopic changes made to the brain of affected animals. An animal may carry the disease for years without outward indication, but in the latter stages, signs may include listlessness, lowering of the head, weight loss, repetitive walking in set patterns, and a lack of responsiveness.

To date there is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to humans or non-cervids. However, as a precaution, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend not to consume meat from infected animals.

Val Verde County Deer Test Positive

A white-tailed deer in Del Rio, Texas, tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), says Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). CWD was first discovered in cervids in North America over 50 years ago.

Initially, CWD was an little-known illness that seemed to occur only in a small geographic area in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming. In the last two decades, additional states have documented the disease. It’s showing up in more whitetail herds each year. The disease is being found at an increasing, almost exponential, rate.

CWD in Texas

CWD was first documented in Texas in the Trans-Pecos region in 2016. When deer hunting season opened, Texas had three CWD Zones where mandatory testing of hunter-harvested deer is required by TPWD. Now that CWD has been been detected in a free-ranging, 5 ½ year-old white-tailed doe between Del Rio and Amistad Reservoir, Texas will have four CWD Zones. More is not always better.

TPWD and Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) are implementing a containment strategy designed to limit the spread of CWD from the affected area and better understand the distribution and prevalence of the disease.

“Because eradication is thought to be impossible once CWD becomes established in a population, it is imperative that we work with other agencies, landowners and hunters to contain this disease within a limited geographic area and prevent it from spreading further among Texas deer populations,” said Dr. Bob Dittmar, TPWD’s Wildlife Veterinarian. “This containment strategy is particularly urgent considering this detection happened in the middle of the general deer season.”

Texas CWD Containment Zones

Effective immediately under an executive order issued by TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith, a CWD Containment Zone and all associated rules for that designation are in effect within the boundaries of a line beginning in Val Verde County at the International Bridge and proceeding northeast along Spur 239 to U.S. 90; thence north along U.S. 90 to the intersection of U.S. 277/377, thence north along U.S. 277/377 to the U.S. 277/377 bridge at Lake Amistad (29.496183°, -100.913355°), thence west along the southern shoreline of Lake Amistad to International boundary at Lake Amistad dam, thence south along the Rio Grande River to the International Bridge on Spur 239.

A CWD Surveillance Zone is in effect within the boundaries of a line beginning in Val Verde County at the confluence of Sycamore Creek and the Rio Grande River (29.242341°, -100.793906°); thence northeast along Sycamore Creek to U.S. 277; thence northwest on U.S. 277 to Loop 79; thence north along Loop 79 to the Union Pacific Railroad; thence east along the Union Pacific Railroad to Liberty Drive (north entrance to Laughlin Airforce Base); thence north along Liberty Drive to U.S. 90; thence west along U.S. 90 to Loop 79; thence north along Loop 79 to the American Electric Power (AEP) Ft. Lancaster-to-Hamilton Road 138kV transmission line (29.415542°, -100.847993°); thence north along the AEP Ft. Lancaster-to-Hamilton Road 138kV transmission line to a point where the AEP Ft. Lancaster-to-Hamilton Road 138kV transmission line turns northwest (29.528552°, -100.871618°); thence northwest along the AEP Ft. Lancaster-to-Hamilton Road 138kV transmission line to the AEP Ft. Lancaster-to-Hamilton Road maintenance road (29.569259°, -100.984758°); thence along the AEP Ft. Lancaster-to -Hamilton Road maintenance road to Spur 406; thence northwest along Spur 406 to U.S. 90; thence south along U.S. 90 to Box Canyon Drive; thence west along Box Canyon Drive to Bluebonnet Drive; thence southwest along Bluebonnet Drive to Lake Drive; thence south along Lake Drive to Lake Amistad (29.513298°, -101.172454°), thence southeast along the International Boundary to the International Boundary at the Lake Amistad dam; thence southeast along the Rio Grande River to the confluence of Sycamore Creek (29.242341°, -100.793906°).

CWD Zone Rules

CWD Containment and Surveillance Zone rules include restrictions on the movements of carcass parts as well as live deer possessed under the authority of a permit. The department is also implementing mandatory CWD testing of deer harvested within the containment and surveillance zone within 48 hours of harvest at a new check station located at the RV park at the Del Rio Fisherman’s Headquarters, 4957 US-90, Del Rio TX 78840 (29.43187° N., -100.90898° W). For full details and instructions on how to bring harvested deer to the check station, hunters should check the Outdoor Annual mobile app or TPWD web site.

“This temporary emergency action will allow us to try to contain CWD within the affected zone while we collect more information and gather more data,” said TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith. “The protection of our state’s big game resources is of vital importance and we are grateful to hunters, landowners and local officials for their cooperation in following these rules and spreading the word in their community to help keep the disease contained.”

So, About CWD

CWD among cervids is a progressive, fatal neurological disease that commonly results in altered behavior as a result of microscopic changes made to the brain of affected animals. An animal may carry the disease for years without outward indication, but in the latter stages, signs may include listlessness, lowering of the head, weight loss, repetitive walking in set patterns, and a lack of responsiveness.

To date there is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to humans or non-cervids. However, as a precaution, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend not to consume meat from infected animals.

“Though CWD has not been discovered in exotic susceptible species in Val Verde County, our agency is working proactively alongside our TPWD partners to achieve enhanced surveillance for all susceptible species in the identified zones,” said Dr. Andy Schwartz, TAHC Executive Director and State Veterinarian.

Reporting Deer for CWD Testing

Hunters are encouraged to report any “sick looking” deer, elk, or other CWD susceptible species while hunting in any CWD zone to TPWD. Contact information for the CWD zone check stations is found within the CWD section of the current Outdoor Annual and associated smart device application. To report a “sick looking” deer outside of a CWD zone, contact a TPWD wildlife biologist or Texas Game Warden.

TPWD will continue to collect samples from all hunted properties located within the containment and surveillance zone as well as roadkills. The department is seeking as many additional samples for testing as it can obtain in order to get a better handle on the geographic extent and prevalence of the disease in this area.

A public meeting is being planned by TPWD, TAHC and TAMU AgriLife to gather public comment, provide information, and discuss the containment strategy moving forward. The date, time and location for this meeting will be announced at a later date on the TPWD News Releases page online and on the department’s social media accounts.

More on CWD

CWD is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a prion that affects cervids including deer, elk and moose. However, this disease is now found in wild and/or farmed cervids in many other states in the U.S., where it appears to be slowly spreading, and in parts of Canada. South Korea reported outbreaks among captive cervids between 2004 and 2010, after importing infected animals from Canada, and Norway detected CWD in wild cervids in 2016.

CWD is a member of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), a group of neurodegenerative disorders caused by prions. Prions are infectious proteins that appear to replicate by converting a normal cellular protein into copies of the prion.

An Odd Looking Deer

Question: “I have a whitetail doe with a milk bag the size of a milking goat. She is walking funny and stays off to herself while other deer are feeding in the area. Is this due to perhaps a snake bite or possible a disease?

We have been watching this doe daily for about 2 weeks and the bag appears to have grown larger, but seems to be stable in its current size. No fawn has been seen with this deer. Any idea why this doe has a large udder?”

Response: It’s often difficult to pinpoint what’s wrong with any single deer. Whitetail live in a wild world and are subject to a variety of hazards, both natural and introduced. Although a snake bite is not necessarily a bad guess with regard to the doe in question, a doe with a particularly large udder is more than likely suffering from something else.

Reasons for a Large Udder

In this situation, the whitetail doe is likely dealing with one of four possible issues.  Since I don’t have the luxury of looking at a photo of the deer in question, I’m going to toss out four possible things that could be plaguing your deer:

• Abscess
• Tumor
• Hernia
• Mastitis

Deer with Infection or Injury?

1. Abscess – An abscess can occur anytime bacteria enter a deer’s body. When a foreign object enters the body, whether it be a stick, piece of wire, whatever, it brings with in bacteria and infection. The infected, bacteria-ridden area often gets bombarded by the deer’s immune system and confines it to the impacted area. This ares becomes a pus pocket, an abscess. An abscess can be found anywhere in a deer’s body, tissue or organ. Internal abscesses are not often visible unless they are large enough to cause some type of protrusion.

2. Tumor – Like an abscess, a tumor can occur just about anywhere on a deer. Again, the ones we see or suspect must be located just under the deer’s hide causing a protrusion or found externally. External tumors are often black in color. These masses are most often caused by a viral infection and typically range in size from that of a golf ball to a football, with smaller ones more common in size.

3. Hernia – A hernia happens when organs or even internal tissues move into places where they are not supposed to be found. A hernia is the result of a hole, tear in thin muscular wall. A hole in such muscle can occur as a birth defect possible, but is more often the result of trauma. Hernias within a deer can result from fighting, straining during the birthing process, or even from from running into a hard object, such as tree or t-post, for example.

4. Mastitis – Mastitis is caused by a bacterial infection that is specifically confined to a doe’s udder and/or mammary tissues. Mastitis that can lead to inflammation resulting in a noticeably larger udder, milk bag in female deer.

Why a Large Milk Bag?

Of the four potential reasons, the most likely reason for a doe to have a large udder at this time of year is mastitis. Not to say that the deer does not have an abscess or possibly even a hernia, but whitetail does are still actively tending to their fawns during the late summer.

Mastitis occurs when bacteria found on the skin of a deer invades mammary tissue. The most likely time for this to happen is when female deer are lactating and nursing their young of the year. For starters, a doe’s milk bag is larger than normal during this time, which makes it more prone to possible injury outside of nursing. In addition, a fawn can cause injury to a doe during the nursing process by being an aggressive feeders.

Any cut or tear in a teat or the udder creates a possible entry point for bacteria that can lead to mastitis in a deer. The primary question asked was, “Any idea why this doe has a large udder?” I can’t say for sure, but my best guess is the deer has mastitis. After reviewing the possibilities, what do you think?

CWD: Urine Trouble?

Chronic Wasting Disease(CWD) is a highly contagious disease that shortens the lives of white-tailed deer and other native cervid species. The disease can be passed from animal to animal and deer can pick it up in a contaminated environment, but can the use of commercially available deer urine by hunters spread CWD to new areas?

It’s a question that many are focused on since CWD causes the mortality rate of infected herds to increase, resulting in lower deer numbers that ultimately threaten socially and economically important game species.

Deer Urine

The commercial sale of urine, specifically white-tailed deer urine, is a big business. Hunters often turn to any perceived advantage during the hunting season to put their tag a buck. During the breeding season, the urine of does that are in estrous smells different, attractive to a buck.

Retailers offer this “love potion” that can be found bottled on shelves and online from a variety of companies (that also sell direct to consumer) that maintain captive whitetail deer herds for the purpose of collecting urine. Distributors say deer urine will not spread CWD elsewhere. Researchers say urine contain CWD prions.

CWD

Every week we read about CWD. It’s been found here or there, research is being performed to learn about how to limit/stop the spread, and hunters are being asked by states to have their harvested animals tested and to comply with cervid carcass restrictions.

Say what you want about CWD, but the disease really has not been around long enough for anyone to know what it fully capable of or what the end-game will be. No doubt, folks are making educated guesses.

There is no easy answer, no quick fix, especially when private companies are up against public agencies.

Deer Urine, CWD Spread Debated

Source: Dr. Krysten Schuler, a wildlife disease ecologist at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in New York, said she isn’t convinced that urine-based deer lure doesn’t pose a risk of spreading the disease.

Schuler, who has researched chronic wasting disease since 2002, said there is no oversight of urine products, and facilities aren’t required to participate in a certification program to test all natural mortality for the presence of CWD. She added that multiple studies have shown CWD prions are shed in urine, and relatively early — within the first six months of infection. A diseased animal can live for a year or more before showing any clinical signs of CWD.

“If you had a sick deer but it looked fine, and you collected the urine for a year and then it dies, and then you find out it had CWD, those products already went out there for a year, and there’s no way to trace it back,” Schuler said.

Adding to her concern is the fact that urine used for lure is collected from captive deer over a grate. In addition to urine, feces and saliva also go through the grate, possibly elevating the level of prions in the bottled product.

“Urine products aren’t pure,” Schuler said.

According to Hunnicutt, the saliva, feces and urine have the lowest concentrations of CWD prions, compared to the brain and spinal cord. He said it would take 33,000 gallons of urine to equal the infectivity of a portion of brain from a deer weighing one gram.

“The urine collected is free and clear of CWD prions. Period,” Hunnicutt said.

There are more than 1,000 deer farms in Pennsylvania — second in number only to Texas — that cater to several markets, including raising quality breeding stock, collecting urine for the scent industry, selling bucks for hunting purposes, and selling antlers.

Pennsylvania also is home to the largest natural urine production facility in the country, which is owned by Amish farmers and played a role in developing the Archery Trade Association monitoring program.

According to Glenn Dice Jr., president of the Pennsylvania Deer Farmers Association, the captive-deer industry has an impact of $7.9 billion to the nation’s economy. While Dice didn’t know the economic contribution of the deer lure industry, he said a ban on urine-based products would be devastating to the facilities that comprise that market.

Rather than look at a ban on deer urine, Dice suggested state wildlife agencies focus on cervid parts that contain the highest CWD risk.

“Expert CWD researchers consider urine the lowest risk of transmitting CWD. These experts indicated that muscle tissue from a de-boned deer carcass is extremely more infectious, potentially 100,000 times more infectious, than urine,” Dice said. “It’s curious PGC’s interest in discussing a potential urine ban, however, a significantly more infectious deer by-product, de-boned meat, is not being discussed.”

Laroche, of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, acknowledged that urine might pose a lower risk of spreading CWD compared to the movement of deer parts and even live animals throughout the state. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t concerned about urine-based deer lure and the threat it poses to the resource and hunting in Pennsylvania.

CWD from Venison

The biggest thing to hit the deer hunting world in recent years has been the increasing prevalence of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in white-tailed deer herds across the US. Unfortunately, the disease not only threatens  our great natural resources, but also poses a threat to hunters.

Although there is no evidence that directly links CWD to specific illnesses in humans, there are also no long-term studies that examine those relationships either. Anyone been tested for CWD lately?

Make no mistake, CWD is a huge issue that impacts cervids, natural resource agencies, hunters and the our hunting heritage. The long-term impacts of the disease on deer hunting and hunter recruitment are completely unknown. Will CWD extirpate the deer or those that choose to hunt them first?

Ingesting CWD

Having to consider whether or not to eat CWD-infected venison is not something that most hunters have to deal with, yet.  But in a number of states, the chances of harvesting a deer infected with CWD are rising. In parts of Wisconsin, for example, infection rates on tested deer are coming in at 30 percent.

Though some experts believe there is a “species barrier” that may prevent humans from getting CWD, other experts suggest that any perceived barrier is not absolute. And after exposed to the prion, the incubation period (the time it takes to see impacts from the disease) is anyone’s guess.

A past study found that monkeys remained free of CWD 6 years after being “exposed orally and intracerebrally,” but researchers have just reported that primates, a classification (order) that includes monkeys, apes and humans, did contract the disease after eating venison that contained CWD prions.

Can Humans Get CWD?

Source: Macaque monkeys contracted chronic wasting disease after eating meat from CWD-positive deer, according to Canadian researchers.

The findings are the first known oral transmissions of the prion disease to a primate and have heightened concerns of human susceptibility to CWD.

“The assumption was for the longest time that chronic wasting disease was not a threat to human health,” said Stefanie Czub, prion researcher with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in remarks published June 24 in The Tyee, a Vancouver, B.C. magazine. “But with the new data it seems we need to revisit this view to some degree.”

Czub is leading the project, which began in 2009 and is funded by Alberta Prion Research Institute at the University of Calgary.

Eighteen macaques, a type of monkey, have been exposed to CWD in various ways to study the zoonotic potential of the disease.

Three of five macaques that were fed infected white-tailed deer meat over a three-year period tested positive for CWD.

The meat fed to the macaques represented the human equivalent of eating a seven-ounce steak per month.

Macaques that had the CWD prion injected into their brains also contracted the disease.

Those that had infected material rubbed on their skin – designed to simulate contact a hunter might have while field dressing a deer – have not contracted the disease.