WV DEER POPULATION - Chronic Wasting Disease Could Spread

(04/22/2006)

State wildlife officials are concerned that efforts to contain chronic wasting disease in the deer population may not be sufficient to stop the illness' spread in West Virginia. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that the proteins that cause the disease can attach themselves to soil particles and remain alive for a prolonged period of time. Paul Johansen with the WVDNR says that finding could hamper the agency's efforts to limit the disease to Hampshire County. Five deer tested positive for the disease in that area last year. Johansen says if the research is correct, more deer eventually could be infected, even if those previously infected have been killed. Chronic wasting disease attacks the brains of infected deer and elk. It is in the same family as mad cow disease.

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