Is it just a matter of time until chronic wasting disease is spread to the Coahoma County deer populations?
Officials at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fishers and Parks need you to know the facts about CDW and understand the plan for containing the fatal disease to within the borders of the six Mississippi counties already infected with CWD.
The sight of a decapitated deer beside the highway is gory and disturbing, but may be “the new normal” on Mississippi’s roads.
In February 2018, the MDWFP became alarmed when a deer with chronic wasting disease was identified within its borders.
To date, there have been eight confirmed cases of CWD in Mississippi.
The test used to determine the presence of CWD requires a portion of the deer’s brainstem or lymph nodes; hence, decapitation is a necessary step in confirming CDW.
Just what is CWD?
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a contagious, fatal, neurodegenerative disease that affects the cervidae or deer family.
In 1967, chronic wasting disease was discovered in an isolated area of Colorado and Wyoming. It wasn’t until 2001 that the disease began to spread across the U.S.
According to William McKinley, who is the white-tailed deer program coordinator and an 18-year employee with the MDWFP, CWD has “been found in mule deer, moose, elk, white-tail, black-tail, red deer and several other deer species and most recently, reindeer.”
He told those at a Dec. 21, 2018, public information forum in Marshall County that CWD is a transmissible, spongiform, encephalitis. Meaning that the disease can go from deer to deer and forms sponge-like holes within the brain.
McKinley said prions associated with the disease are found throughout the body of infected animals, but are found in higher concentrations in the eyes, lymph nodes and nervous tissues.
For some animals, it may be a year or more before symptoms develop, which can include drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms.
The prions are found in saliva (the most infectious fluid), as well as feces, urine, blood and decaying carcasses.
They can be shedding the disease within six months of the deer coming into contact with the disease.
The incubation period is usually about 16 months before the deer becomes sick and then dies.
The actual clinical symptoms of the disease usually only last about six weeks. As spongy holes began to form in the brain, the deer begins to zone out, forgets things and doesn’t recognize things.
“If I compared this to a disease that, unfortunately, many of us are familiar with, it would be Alzheimer’s,” McKinley said. “It is more like a sped-up version. Alzheimer’s is also another disease caused by prions.
“Once the deer goes clinical in that last six weeks, they eventually forget to eat, forget to drink and die.”
He said the disease has been found in 26 states.
“A lot of people will try to tell you that this disease is not spreading. It is spreading. Rapidly,” McKinley said. “It was just recently discovered in three Canadian provinces. The newest state to come online is Tennessee.”
Infected animals shed prions through saliva, feces, blood and urine. Other animals can become infected through direct contact with an infected animal and through indirect contact from an infected environment. Once the disease occurs in an area, evidence demonstrates eradication is unlikely.
What is being done about CWD in Mississippi?
Coming to terms with the reality that CWD cannot be eradicated, the MDWFP has developed a long-range plan to manage the disease. This plan includes surveillance, containment, and education to the public, agency staff and affected areas.
A primary goal of CWD response and management efforts is to determine the geographic extent and prevalence of the disease.
Addressing conservation challenges, such as CWD, requires active involvement of those with a passion for this state’s rich natural resources.
The MDWFP asks hunters to aid in this effort by submitting deer for testing during the 2018-’19 white-tailed deer hunting season. Further, hunters and landowners can help monitor for CWD by actively looking for and reporting potential diseased or sick deer.
Where do I take a deer suspected of having CWD?
The MDWFP has established the following collection sites across the north region for the general public to deposit deer heads for testing. See map on page 19 for locations
Freezers will be at each site for depositing deer heads.
Hunters should preserve the head with at least 6 inches of neck attached and antlers may be removed before depositing head.
Video instructions for properly harvesting, labelling and depositing samples can be viewed at www.mdwfp.com\cwd
Supplemental feeding and carcass transportation ban
Supplemental feeding (salt licks, mineral licks, and feeders) is banned in all CWD management zones.
Direct contact with prions is the most effective means of transmitting CWD.
Research indicates saliva may have the highest concentration of prions. Thus, to minimize concentration of deer and potential spread of CWD, supplemental feeding is banned.
Carcasses may not be transported outside of any CWD management zone.
Research has shown that decomposed carcasses of infected animals can also contribute to transmission when prions bind to soil and plant material.
Thus, movement of carcasses may introduce CWD into previously uninfected areas.
Any harvested deer may be taken directly to a taxidermist or meat processor within the CWD management zone. Only the below products may leave the CWD Management Zone:
* Cut/wrapped meat (commercially or privately);
* deboned meat;
* hides with no head attached;
* finished taxidermy;
* antlers with no tissue attached;
* cleaned skull plates (no brain tissue);
* and cleaned skulls (no lymphoid or brain tissue)
North Mississippi Management Zone
The CWD Management Zone includes Union and Pontotoc counties and all portions of Lee County west of Hwy 45.
Benton, Lafayette, Marshall, Pontotoc, Tippah, and Union counties;
All portions of Alcorn, Lee, and Prentiss counties west of Hwy 45; and
All portions of DeSoto and Tate counties east of I-55.
Have there been any cases of CWD found here?
According to McKinley, “In Mississippi, we have found CWD in Pontotoc, Issaquena, Warren, Marshall and Union counties. Most recently, CWD was found in a road-kill deer in Marshall County.”
Coahoma County is not in the MDWFP’s CWD containment area.
We are halfway through with the 2018-2019 white-tailed deer hunting season. Since Oct. 1, 2018, 29 samples of white-tail deer have been collected from Coahoma County by the MDWFP from hunter-harvested, reported-sick and road-kill deer sources for testing for CWD.
Just how do deer get it?
Deer can potentially get the disease through the soil or pass it directly from one another through licking and grooming behavior.
In the summer months, deer groom one another when they are in bachelor groups. They are passing on that disease if they are infected.
Since doe family groups seldom co-mingle with another family group, there is less risk that the disease can be passed from one doe family group to another.
However, bucks tend to have the highest prevalence of the disease where the disease is endemic. Meaning bucks tend to be nearly twice as likely to have it.
It is therefore the bucks, which will go from doe group to doe group checking each group during the rut, are spreading CWD.
Can humans catch CWD?
The Center of Disease Control says, “To date, there have been no reported cases of CWD in people. However, animal studies suggest that CWD poses risks to some types of non-human primates like monkeys that eat meat from CWD-infected animals or that come in contact with brain or body fluid from infected deer or elk.
These studies raise concerns that there might also be a risk to people.
The CDC strongly recommends that in those areas where CWD is endemic that those hunters have the animal tested before eating the meat.
The Mississippi Department of Health echoed that warning.
“While there has never been a reported case of CWD in people, if it could spread to humans, it would likely come from eating an infected animal like an infected deer,” said Paul Beyers, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Health. “Since there is no test that can safely rule out CWD infection in processes meat, the Mississippi state Department of Health is recommending that hunters consider not eating meat from deer harvested.”
Have there been any cases of CWD found here?
According to McKinley, “In Mississippi, we have found CWD in Pontotoc, Issaquena, Warren, Marshall and Union counties. Most recently, CWD was found in a road-kill deer in Marshall County.”
Coahoma County is not in the MDWFP’s CWD containment area.
We are halfway through with the 2018-2019 white-tailed deer hunting season. Since Oct. 1, 2018, 29 samples of white-tail deer have been collected from Coahoma County by the MDWFP from hunter-harvested, reported-sick and road-kill deer sources for testing for CWD.
Just how do deer get it?
Deer can potentially get the disease through the soil or pass it directly from one another through licking and grooming behavior.
In the summer months, deer groom one another when they are in bachelor groups. They are passing on that disease if they are infected.
Since doe family groups seldom co-mingle with another family group, there is less risk that the disease can be passed from one doe family group to another.
However, bucks tend to have the highest prevalence of the disease where the disease is endemic. Meaning bucks tend to be nearly twice as likely to have it.
It is therefore the bucks, which will go from doe group to doe group checking each group during the rut, are spreading CWD.
Can humans catch CWD?
The Center of Disease Control says, “To date, there have been no reported cases of CWD in people. However, animal studies suggest that CWD poses risks to some types of non-human primates like monkeys that eat meat from CWD-infected animals or that come in contact with brain or body fluid from infected deer or elk.
These studies raise concerns that there might also be a risk to people.
The CDC strongly recommends that in those areas where CWD is endemic that those hunters have the animal tested before eating the meat.
The Mississippi Department of Health echoed that warning.
“While there has never been a reported case of CWD in people, if it could spread to humans, it would likely come from eating an infected animal like an infected deer,” said Paul Beyers, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Health.
“Since there is no test that can safely rule out CWD infection in processes meat, the Mississippi state Department of Health is recommending that hunters consider not eating meat from deer harvested.”
Why should we worry?
According to McKinley, the disease is starting to impact deer populations.
“Within the Department of Wildlife, our mission is to conserve and enhance natural wildlife resources” McKinley said.
“When we hunt, we harvest the surplus. We know that a deer population normally replenishes its population by a third every year.
“And states that have been affected with CWD for a long time are beginning to see it. We are beginning to see population decline in areas where CWD has been endemic for 20 to 30 years.
“If CWD is taking a third of the population each year, then there is no surplus.
“We know it will have an impact on our deer hunting area. It can affect how we manage deer.”
