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What
is Chronic Wasting Disease?
The
Ohio Department
of Agriculture
Division
of Animal
Industry's
Disease DiagnosticsLaboratory
is working
with the
Ohio Departments
of Natural
Resources
and Health
and theUSDA
to test and
monitor Ohio's
deer herd
for evidence
of Chronic
Wasting Disease
(CWD).CWD
is a progressive,
fatal, degenerative
disease
of the brain
affecting
elk, mule
deer, moose
and white-tailed
deer.
 CWD
belongs to
a group of
related diseases
called TransmissibleSpongiformEncephalopathies
(TSE's),
which includes
diseases
such as Scrapie
in sheep
and goats,Bovine
Spongiform
Encephalopathy
(BSE) in
cattle and
Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (CJD)
in humans.
There is
no evidence
that CWD
affects humans.
CWD is not
the same
as CJD or
BSE (Mad
Cow Disease).
TSE's are
thought to
be caused
by abnormal
proteins,
called prions
inthe brain. There
is currently no treatment or vaccine available.
For
the sixth
year in a
row, testing
of Ohio’s
deer herd
has found
no evidence
of CWD. State
officials
collected
samples from
hunter-harvested
deer during
the 2002-2007
deer-gun
season. The
samples were
then tested
by the Animal
Disease Diagnostic
laboratory.
Hunter surveillance
testing
is completed
for the 2007
CWD survey.
All samples
tested negative
for both
CWD and bovine
tuberculosis.
CWD Resources:
USDA
- Animal and Plant
Health Inspection
Service
Ohio Department of
Natural Resources
Chronic Wasting
Disease Alliance |
