Tuesday, March 5, 2013

More info on deer chronic wasting disease

From Pennlive.com (Harrisburg Patriot-News):

State agencies provided a bit more detail about three new Pennsylvania cases of deer with chronic wasting disease, but little in the way of the actions they will take in response to those cases, at a news conference Monday afternoon.

The three new confirmed cases of CWD — all in free-ranging deer — were detected in an adult buck in Frankstown Township, Blair County; an adult doe in Freedom Township, Blair County; and a year-and-a-half-old buck in South Woodbury Township, Bedford County, according to Brad Meyers, southcentral regional director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The hunters who harvested those deer did not notice anything usual about them, he said, noting, "Our officers asked them if these deer appeared sick or were acting strangely, and there was no evidence of that."

CWD is an always fatal brain disease among white-tailed deer and other cervids, like elk and moose.

Although it does not recommend that anyone eat venison from a deer confirmed to be infected with CWD, the Centers for Disease Control says, there is no evidence that the disease can be spread to other types of animals or to humans.

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