[dgl1948]

Thanks! So that's over an 8 year period roughly?

I think it started in 1997. The last few years it has remained about 6000 per year and there has been samples from just about every zone in the province sent in each year. In 2011 Alberta tested a little over 3000 animals.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

Last Reviewed: November 2011

What is chronic wasting disease?

CWD is a disease found in some deer, elk and moose populations. CWD damages portions of the brain and typically causes progressive loss of body condition, behavioral changes, excessive salivation and death. The cause of the disease is suspected to be a type of prion (protein infectious particle) that is found in some tissues of infected animals.

Are prion diseases transmissible to humans?

Although there is considerable ongoing research on this issue, there is no confirmed human neurologic disease linked to CWD at this time. In addition, there have never been any indications of human illness related to scrapie, a prion disease found in sheep. However, ingestion of cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) overseas appears to be related to human deaths from a new variant of a previously identified neurologic disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

Where does CWD occur?

CWD is a disease that is unique to North America. As of 2008, CWD has been found in wild deer, moose and elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In captive deer and elk, it has been found in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

How is CWD transmitted?

Experimental evidence indicates that infected animals probably transmit the disease through animal-to-animal contact and/or contamination of feed or water sources with saliva or bodily waste material. There is experimental evidence of environmental contamination of the soil through decomposition of infected deer carcasses as well as from feces or urine from infected deer. The transmission may be enhanced when deer and elk are congregated, such as around man-made feed and water stations.