AFP: Healthy deer can spread prion disease through faeces

 

Healthy deer can spread prion disease through faeces

(AFP) – 20 hours ago

PARIS — Brain-destroying prion disease can spread among deer through faeces shed by animals which have been infected by the deadly pathogen but are not sick, a study published on Wednesday suggests.

The paper implies that the mysterious disorders known as chronic wasting disease (CWD) and scrapie -- cousins of mad-cow disease -- could be transmitted in a hitherto-overlooked way, posing a headache for farmers.

The scientists are led by University of California neurologist Stanley Prusiner, who won the 1997 Nobel Medicine Prize for research into prions, the rogue proteins blamed for turning brains spongey.

Prion diseases are well-researched disorders in deer (CWD), cattle (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE), sheep and goats (scrapie), cats (feline spongiform encephalopathy, FSE) and in humans (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CJD).

Many aspects about them are unclear, though. In deer, CWD is known to be handed on from mother to offspring, but other paths of infection are deemed possible.

Publishing in the British journal Nature, Prusiner's team probe a theory that deer may pass on the prion in their faeces, thus creating a risk that other deer will pick up the pathogen in the soil when they graze.

AFP: Healthy deer can spread prion disease through faeces

Feeding deer associated with a human and deer illnesses

 Feeding deer associated with a human and deer illnesses

Friday, July 10, 2009
By Becky Gillette

You might call it the Bambi syndrome. Well-intentioned people who love deer think they are helping them by setting out food, usually corn. That practice is known as "recreational feeding." Corn is also sometimes used to bait deer to make it easy for hunters to kill them.

Jay Gaylen, owner of Hart's Family Center in Eureka Springs, said they sell quite a bit of deer corn.

"In the wintertime we sell more than in the summertime because there are more people trying to help the deer out in the winter," Gaylen said.

But feeding the deer does more harm than good. It can lead to deer overpopulation that can wreak havoc to the ecosystem. And it can kill the deer people are trying to help.

Deer feeding is definitely involved with a number of diseases, said Kevin Keel, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVP, a wildlife pathologist with the SE Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia.

Bovine TB

"Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a prime example," Keel said. "It is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium bovis. This bacterium is similar to the agent of human tuberculosis and can cause a generally milder disease in humans. It originally spilled over into deer from cattle, but has since been maintained in deer in a corner of Michigan. The occurrence of bovine tuberculosis in deer in Michigan is directly correlated with the practice of baiting deer. The more deer are fed, the greater the number with bovine TB."

Another good example is bovine brucellosis in and around Yellowstone National Park. Like bovine tuberculosis, this is a cattle disease that originally spread to elk and later to bison. In the Greater Yellowstone Area, elk and bison are artificially fed in the winter.

"This has led to high populations and a dense, focal accumulation of animals in the winter," Keel said. "This also happens to be the time when elk with brucellosis exhibit one of the principal signs of the disease, abortions. The aborted fetuses and placentas are heavily laden with the Brucella abortus, the bacteria causing the disease. These can contaminate the feed grounds so that animals may be infected while feeding, but other elk are often curious and will lick or nibble at the aborted material. This is a situation that greatly encourages transmission of the disease and the feed grounds certainly contribute to persistence of this disease in the Greater Yellowstone Area."

Chronic Wasting Disease

Another concern is Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), which is the mad cow variant in deer. CWD is of double concern because there are worries that eating deer meat contaminated with CWD could cause human illness. With deer meat an important part of their diet for many people, this is a huge concern.

There is an organization called Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry that last year harvested 1,000 deer that were sent to food banks and other charitable organizations. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says one deer can provide meals for between 50 and 100 people.

Keel said the practice of feeding deer is a concern with CWD because it is likely spread in a fecal-oral manner and persists in the environment.

CWD -- a tough study

"However, CWD is such a slowly progressive disease that it is much harder to investigate and we haven't been able to show the tight correlations with feeding that we've demonstrated with bovine tuberculosis and bovine brucellosis," Keel said.

The closest CWD has been found to Northwest Arkansas is western Kansas and northern Illinois.

Interstate transportation of captive deer and elk has been stopped in most states.

Other problems with feeding of deer include the syndrome of hair loss in white-tailed deer.

"We've also seen a number of deer with unusual swelling of the muzzle that seems to be associated with feeding," Keel said.

Another concern is, in some areas, the deer population has been linked to the prevalence of Lyme disease in people.

"This is not because deer carry the agent, but because they are an essential host in the life cycle of the tick that transmits the Lyme disease agent," Keel said. "However, this is a very complicated issue and the density of rodents, the intermediate hosts of the ticks, also has to be taken into account. Some studies found that tick density increased with deer density at a broad scale but others report that deer density is a poor predictor of tick abundance, probably due to the effect of rodent populations. Complete removal of deer is associated with elimination of the ticks, but that is not a realistic option unless you live on a small island."

The lone-star tick

Current evidence indicates a definite association between deer density and human diseases transmitted by the lone-star tick. Keel said white-tailed deer are the principal host for all life stages of the lone star tick and the abundance of the ticks and deer are tightly linked. Several human diseases (human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis, /Ehrlichia ewingii/ehrlichiosis and southern tick-associated rash illnesses) are known to be transmitted by lone star ticks or, in the case of southern tick-associated rash illness, are suspected to be transmitted by lone star ticks.

"These diseases were not recognized until the 1980s and 1990s and their emergence is likely associated with increasing populations of white-tailed deer," Keel said. "I should also add that I do a great deal of work on deer health and generally assess density dependent problems. Higher deer populations contribute not only to some infectious diseases, but also to greater parasite burdens that can impact deer health. Lungworms and parasites of the gastrointestinal tract are mostly responsible and are higher in areas of high deer density. These parasites can cause significant problems in deer particularly in younger animals."

Lovely County Citizen: Story: Feeding deer associated with a human and deer illnesses

IUCN - Forewarned is forearmed

 

Forewarned is forearmed 07 October 2008 | News - News story Health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released a report that lists 12 pathogens that could spread into new regions as a result of climate change, at the IUCN World Conservation Congress today. All have potential impacts to human and wildlife health, as well as global economies.

The new report The Deadly Dozen: Wildlife Diseases in the Age of Climate Change provides examples of diseases that could spread as a result of changes in temperature and rainfall.

The best defence, according to the reports authors, is a good offence in the form of wildlife monitoring to detect how these diseases are moving. Health professionals can then start to prepare. The monitoring of wildlife health provides us with a sensitive and quantitative means of detecting changes in the environment, said Dr. William Karesh, Vice President and Director of WCSs Global Health Programs and Co-Chair of IUCNs Wildlife Health Specialist Group.

Wildlife health monitoring provides a new lens to see what is changing around us and will help governments, agencies, and communities detect and mitigate threats before they become disasters. The term climate change conjures images of melting ice caps and rising sea levels that threaten coastal cities and nations, but just as important is how increasing temperatures and fluctuating precipitation levels will change the distribution of dangerous pathogens, said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, WCS President and CEO.

The health of wild animals is tightly linked to the ecosystems in which they live and influenced by the environment surrounding them, and even minor disturbances can have far-reaching consequences on what diseases they might encounter and transmit as climate changes. Monitoring wildlife health will help us predict where those trouble spots will occur and plan how to prepare. The Deadly Dozen including such diseases as avian influenza, Ebola, cholera, and tuberculosis is illustrative only of the broad range of infectious diseases that threaten humans and animals.

IUCN - Forewarned is forearmed

Wisconsin Ag Connection - Plan Would Guide CWD Management Efforts for Next 10 Years

 

Plan Would Guide CWD Management Efforts for Next 10 Years Wisconsin Ag Connection - 11/06/2008 The public has an opportunity to comment on a draft plan that would guide the state's Chronic Wasting Disease management efforts over the next decade. The proposal blends recommendations from a citizen CWD Stakeholder Advisory Group and lessons learned over the past six years since discovery of CWD in Wisconsin. The plan assesses what can realistically be done to control the disease based on the best available science. "After six years, it is clear that there is no easy answer to managing this disease in Wisconsin," said Department of Natural Resources Secretary Matt Frank. "But we continue to believe the stakes are high and we need to do our best to try to minimize the effect of CWD in the state." The DNR says there are many challenges that make the goal of eliminating CWD from Wisconsin in the next 10 years unlikely. But the agency says they've learned a lot and in light of its public trust responsibility for managing wildlife, they need to still effectively manage CWD regardless of the challenges.

Wisconsin Ag Connection - Plan Would Guide CWD Management Efforts for Next 10 Years

CWD on Game Farm

JS Online: Game farm deer had CWD

Portage County facility quarantined
By LEE BERGQUIST
lbergquist@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 10, 2008

A white-tailed deer kept at a game farm in Portage County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
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State Veterinarian Robert Ehlenfeldt said Friday that a 7 1/2 -year-old doe, killed on Sept. 20, had been infected with the fatal disease.

The animal was owned by Alligator Creek Whitetails near Junction City. State officials have quarantined the facility.

State regulations require that all farm-raised deer and elk 16 months or older must be tested after death. In this case, the deer had been “harvested,” according to the attending veterinarian, state officials said. But an exact cause of death was not immediately known.

An owner of the game farm would not comment Friday.

State officials were notified of the results on Thursday by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

The last case of chronic wasting disease in a captive animal population was January 2005 on a farm in Crawford County, said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

To date, 97 farm-raised animals on eight Wisconsin farms and hunting preserves have tested positive. That includes 82 on a single farm in Portage.

MOOSE TESTS POSITIVE FOR CWD - 5887

STAR VALLEY MOOSE TESTS POSITIVE FOR CWD 10/17/2008 Cheyenne--- A three-year-old female moose has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in western Wyoming. CWD is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose that affects the brain, causing weight loss, abnormal behavior, and, eventually, death. There is no evidence that CWD has any human-health implications.

"This finding was a very big surprise, said Wyoming Game and Fish Department Wildlife Disease Specialist Hank Edwards."Number one, because this is the first CWD-positive moose we have ever found in Wyoming. And number two, because this moose was in an area that is a significant distance from any other known CWD areas." The animal was found approximately two miles south of Bedford, Wyoming, and showed no clinical signs of CWD, which include loss of body condition, excessive drooling, and drooping ears and head. It was unable to stand up but was in very good nutritional condition.

Testing at the WGFD laboratory in Laramie determined this animal had elaeophorosis (arterial worm disease), which accounted for its inability to stand. According to Edwards, mule deer are the normal host for elaeophorosis, where it does not cause serious disease. Elaeophorosis is rarely seen in elk, but can cause significant disease in moose. Additional testing by the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory confirmed that the moose also tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. Based on laboratory tests and lack of clinical sign, Edwards said this animal was in the early stages of CWD.

Press Release 10/17/08 - STAR VALLEY MOOSE TESTS POSITIVE FOR CWD - 5887

Game farm deer had CWD

 

Portage County facility quarantined By LEE BERGQUIST lbergquist@journalsentinel.com Posted: Oct. 10, 2008 A white-tailed deer kept at a game farm in Portage County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease. Advertisement State Veterinarian Robert Ehlenfeldt said Friday that a 7 1/2 -year-old doe, killed on Sept. 20, had been infected with the fatal disease. The animal was owned by Alligator Creek Whitetails near Junction City. State officials have quarantined the facility. State regulations require that all farm-raised deer and elk 16 months or older must be tested after death. In this case, the deer had been harvested, according to the attending veterinarian, state officials said. But an exact cause of death was not immediately known. An owner of the game farm would not comment Friday. State officials were notified of the results on Thursday by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. The last case of chronic wasting disease in a captive animal population was January 2005 on a farm in Crawford County, said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. To date, 97 farm-raised animals on eight Wisconsin farms and hunting preserves have tested positive. That includes 82 on a single farm in Portage.

JS Online: Game farm deer had CWD

Banff on alert after disease found in elk

Saskatchewan cases the first in Canada

Cathy Ellis, For The Calgary Herald

Published: Saturday, August 16, 2008

Banff National Park officials are keeping close tabs on the local elk population after the first cases of chronic wasting disease in wild elk showed up in Saskatchewan.

Deer in Alberta and Saskatchewan have tested positive for the disease -- a fatal brain illness of mule deer, white-tailed deer and elk. But officials in Saskatchewan report this is the first time it has been found in wild elk in Canada.

Jesse Whittington, wildlife specialist for Banff National Park, said chronic wasting disease is one of the most important diseases that Parks Canada monitors for, and has been doing so for several years now.

Banff on alert after disease found in elk

Bison death toll climbs to 80 in Flying D anthrax outbreak

By Andy Malby, editor

Nearly 80 bison have succumbed in a rapidly spreading anthrax outbreak on Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch in the Spanish Peaks, and officials are scrambling to contain the disease, a state livestock agent said Monday.
“We’re in the process of cleaning up,” Steve Merritt, a Montana Department of Livestock public information officer, told the Belgrade News. “The number of dead the last time I heard was approximately 80 animals.”

The Belgrade News

Mysterious, fatal disease bound for elk feedgrounds

 

A cousin of mad cow, chronic wasting disease is a worry for Jackson Hole’s wildlife economy.

Forrest Keizer, top, and Cole Hansen herd a cow elk infected with chronic wasting disease into a laboratory at the Wyoming Game and Fish Tom Thorne/Beth Williams Wildlife Research Center in Sybille, Wyo. NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / CORY HATCH
View our entire photo gallery >>

By Cory Hatch Jackson Hole, Wyo.

August 6, 2008

Outside a laboratory at the Tom Thorne/Beth Williams Wildlife Research Center at Sybille near Laramie, there’s a clattering of hooves against steel.
A small black-and-white security screen shows a 400-pound female elk barreling down a corridor of corral panels toward us. She charges into a small pen and she stands there – eyes bulging, mouth foaming and teeth clicking in agitation.

Jackson Hole News&Guide | Mysterious, fatal disease bound for elk feedgrounds

The Associated Press: Focus on elk as disease persists near Yellowstone

By MATTHEW BROWN – 23 hours ago

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal officials are considering a tentative proposal that calls for capturing or killing infected elk in Yellowstone National Park to eliminate a serious livestock disease carried by animals in the area.

Government agencies have killed more than 6,000 wild bison leaving Yellowstone over the last two decades in an attempt to contain brucellosis, which causes pregnant cattle to abort their young.

Cattle in parts of Wyoming and Montana where bison haven't roamed for decades are being infected, and livestock officials in both states are now targeting elk as the cause.

The Associated Press: Focus on elk as disease persists near Yellowstone

Debunking Brucellosis Myths

 

Debunking Brucellosis Myths

Montana just lost its brucellosis-free status, just as Idaho and Wyoming have in recent years, and stockgrowers and politicians blame the bison and elk herds living in Yellowstone National Park. But who's really at fault?

By Bill Schneider, 6-12-08

The cause or the victim? Photo by Benjamin Earwicker.

Montana just lost its brucellosis-free status, just as Idaho and Wyoming have in recent years. Whenever this happens, stockgrowers and politicians rush to blame the bison and elk herds living in Yellowstone National Park and the government for not doing enough to eradicate the disease.

When they should be blaming themselves.

Ranchers, especially in Wyoming but not only in Wyoming, have done more than anybody, even the federal government, to keep the brucellosis threat alive. And you could even argue that they want to keep it alive.

Debunking Brucellosis Myths | Politics | New West Network

Parasitic worm a threat to Banff elk

CATHY ELLIS
BANFF

A blood-feasting stomach worm introduced to North America from Europe has been detected in the elk around this mountain resort community, raising concerns for the long-term health of the animals.

“It’s quite the mystery as to how wild animals in a relatively remote and isolated national park have become infected with this parasite,” said researcher Nathan deBruyn, who is doing a master of science degree at the University of Alberta.

Researchers say the worm’s emergence could have implications for birth rates and winter survival of the Banff elk. As well, they fear the stomach worm could spread to threatened caribou populations in mountain national parks and provincial lands.

DeBruyn, who uses samples from carcasses to obtain DNA markers for parasites, found all 12 elk tested were carrying a nematode called Spiculopteragia boehmi.

DeBruyn suspects the parasite in Banff is a result of recent elk relocations in the province, or from domestic livestock that also carry the worm.

The only other previous known occurrences in North America were in southern Texas, Ontario and Quebec.

In Banff, there are estimated to be fewer than 10 caribou in the park. Only five caribou have been observed this past year.

DeBruyn said this family of parasites has been shown to cause malnutrition, weight loss and anemia.

CATHY ELLIS
BANFF

A blood-feasting stomach worm introduced to North America from Europe has been detected in the elk around this mountain resort community, raising concerns for the long-term health of the animals.

“It’s quite the mystery as to how wild animals in a relatively remote and isolated national park have become infected with this parasite,” said researcher Nathan deBruyn, who is doing a master of science degree at the University of Alberta.

Researchers say the worm’s emergence could have implications for birth rates and winter survival of the Banff elk. As well, they fear the stomach worm could spread to threatened caribou populations in mountain national parks and provincial lands.

DeBruyn, who uses samples from carcasses to obtain DNA markers for parasites, found all 12 elk tested were carrying a nematode called Spiculopteragia boehmi.

DeBruyn suspects the parasite in Banff is a result of recent elk relocations in the province, or from domestic livestock that also carry the worm.

The only other previous known occurrences in North America were in southern Texas, Ontario and Quebec.

In Banff, there are estimated to be fewer than 10 caribou in the park. Only five caribou have been observed this past year.

DeBruyn said this family of parasites has been shown to cause malnutrition, weight loss and anemia.

Researchers test RMNP elk herd for disease and administer birth control

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK — A tranquilizer dart pierced the elk’s hide Friday. She started to get upset, her knees buckled, then she fell to the ground.

A team of four researchers rushed to her side, blindfolded her and talked to her in calming voices, then began to take samples: saliva, blood, urine and rectal tissue.

They injected a white substance called GonaCon — an experimental birth control drug being tested for the first time on wild elk.

ReporterHerald- Researchers test RMNP elk herd for disease and administer birth control

Whitehorse Star Online

 

The Yukon must not mess around with the winter tick infesting the Yukon’s elk, says a career biologist.
Grant Lortie said to do nothing, to stand by and waffle with indecision, only increases the risk of the tick spreading to and devastating the moose and caribou populations.
If Lortie had his preference, he’d kill the 200-plus elk occupying the Takhini River Valley and Braeburn areas.
The animals are not natural to the Yukon, and do not do well here, he said in an interview Tuesday.
If it wasn’t for additional transplants to prop up the herd following the original transplant in 1951, it would be in poor shape, if not non-existent, Lortie suggested.
Before Yukoners get too far down the road with the development and implementation of an elk management plan, he said, there needs to be a complete assessment of the risk winter ticks pose to the territory’s natural populations.

Whitehorse Star Online

Hunters play key role in keeping Oregon CWD-free

 

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Hunters are being urged to have their harvested deer or elk checked for Chronic Wasting Disease.

They are also being asked to follow regulations that prohibit the import of any deer, elk or moose parts containing central nervous system tissue into Oregon from states or Canadian provinces with the disease.

CWD is an untreatable neurological disease that is always fatal to deer, elk and moose. Oregon is fortunate to be a CWD-free state today as no state or province has detected CWD in its free-ranging wildlife has been able to eradicate it.

Sampling the animals of successful hunters is 1 of the major ways ODFW monitors for the disease.

No evidence suggests that Chronic Wasting Disease can be transmitted to people.

http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/recommendations.video

KTVZ.com Central Oregons News, Weather and Sports Leader - Hunters play key role in keeping Oregon CWD-free

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) continues to spread

 

RONALD E. MCCALL | Thursday, September 27, 2007

Neurological disease has hit as far south as West Virginia

With the 2007-08 Georgia deer season upon us, evidence that the closest confirmed case of Chronic Wasting Disease in deer is several hundred miles from Georgia borders (West Virginia) shouldn't lessen CWD concerns of local sportsmen.

Efforts to keep the disease inside the boundaries of West Virginia should remain a prime concern as preventing infestation will certainly be easier than eliminating infected deer populations and environmental contamination. It is a classic case of "an ounce of prevention."

CWD affects North American hoofed ruminant mammals (cervids) in which the males typically have antlers. This list includes whitetail deer, mule deer, elk and moose.

CWD was first identified in Colorado in 1967.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) continues to spread | SavannahNow.com

Tuberculosis - Riding Mountain NP

 

Tuberculosis, Cervids - Canada (MB) - Archive Number 20070918.3094
ProMED-mail - promedmail.org
18 Sep 2007
Area: Manitoba Canada
I am responding to questions raised in the recent posting on findings of bovine tuberculosis in wild cervids in and around Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) in Manitoba, Canada. Surveillance for bovine tuberculosis in wild cervids in and around RMNP consists of 2 elements: a capture-collar-test program that is used inside the park where hunting is not permitted; and a hunter-harvest sampling program that is used outside the RMNP boundaries where hunting is permitted. Blood tests are a component of the capture-collar-test program only, wherein wild elk are captured using a net-gun fired from a helicopter, a radio-collar is attached to the elk, and whole blood and serum are collected. If a rapid test is being conducted on the blood sample, any positive animal is humanely destroyed at the time of capture.
Otherwise the collared elk is released and the results of the blood tests are awaited. If the results require the animal to be destroyed, the radio-collar is used to locate the animal by helicopter, the animal is recaptured and humanely destroyed, the carcass necropsied, and tissue samples are collected for histopathology and culture which is carried out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Laboratory. The blood tests that were performed by the CFIA Laboratory on whole blood and serum samples collected from the captured wild cervids were the lymphocyte stimulation test (LST) and the fluorescent polarization assay for bovine tuberculosis (FPA-TB). Another test, a proprietary rapid test developed by Chembio Inc., was performed on-site by Parks Canada staff. Not all cervids received all tests.

http://wdin.blogspot.com/

Disease may cause high mortality rate in deer population in Southern Indiana

 

By DAVID MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com

 

— Deer populations in Southern Indiana have been found to be infected with a viral ailment called Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease — commonly referred to as EHD, state officials say.
EHD has been found in 35 Indiana counties, including Clark. The disease has not been found in Floyd County, but officials say the list grows every day. Areas in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania also have reported EHD-infected deer.

Disease may cause high mortality rate in deer population in Southern Indiana

AFP: Kenyan scientists save Grevy's zebras from possible extinction

 

NAIROBI (AFP) — Kenyan scientists said Wednesday they had rescued endangered Grevy's zebras from possible extinction after an outbreak of deadly anthrax last year and were working to increase their population.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said "quick intervention" had saved the animals, known for their narrow and finer stripes and large ears, from being wiped out by the disease, which was exacerbated by a recent drought in the scrub-peppered northern Kenya plains.

"After we got reports that the Grevy's zebras were dying, we mobilised our teams and carried out mass vaccinations against anthrax and treated other diseases," Patrick Omondi, KWS head of species management, told AFP.

"We contained the threat and ensured that their population, which is extremely low, does not reduce further. We are now working on a five-year programme to increase their population."

Omondi said the programme, in which Ethiopia is involved, includes creating protected breeding sanctuaries.

Fewer than 2,000 Grevy's zebras are believed to live in the wild

AFP: Kenyan scientists save Grevy's zebras from possible extinction