Chronic Wasting Disease Information |
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Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) History |
Chronic Wasting Disease was first recognized as a clinical "wasting" syndrome in 1967 in mule deer in a wildlife research facility in Northern Colorado. It was identified as a Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) in 1978. In 1981, CWD was detected in a wild elk and in 1985 it was detected in a wild mule deer in Colorado. Further surveillance showed the disease was present in wild deer and elk in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming. For many years CWD in wildlife was thought to only occur in this region, referred to as the "CWD endemic area." However, wildlife surveillance begun in earnest in 1997 by wildlife agencies led to detection of CWD outside of the historic endemic area. APHIS provided assistance to the wildlife agencies for much of this surveillance. CWD has now been identified in wild deer and elk in six additional states: Illinois, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin.
CWD was detected in a farmed elk herd in South Dakota in 1997. Since then, additional positive farmed elk and deer herds have been identified in South Dakota as well as 7 other states: Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. In September 2001, the Secretary of Agriculture released Commodity Credit Corporation emergency funds allowing USDA to begin implementation of a program to eradicate CWD among farmed elk populations. The program has since been amended to include susceptible deer species as well. The program involves enhanced surveillance to detect CWD-positive herds and response to CWD-positive herds and trace animals, including the purchase and humane euthanasia of positive and exposed animals and the ancillary expenses associated with these activities. Reciept of line item funding in FY2003 allowed the continuation of these efforts. Also, with reciept of line item funding, APHIS began larger scale support of surveillance in wild, free-ranging deer and elk providing CWD testing for more than 90,000 samples collected nationwide during the 2002/2003 hunting season.
The species known to be susceptible to CWD are Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus elaphus), Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and Black-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Because Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) are genetically very similar to Rocky Mountain Elk, it is likely that they are also susceptible to CWD.
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