Science - Reuters
Chronic Wasting Disease Found in Illinois Doe
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Reuters) - A young wild female deer shot by a
landowner is Illinois' first case of chronic wasting disease, a fatal
wildlife illness linked to mad cow disease, state officials said.
The man shot the doe in Winnebago County, in north-central Illinois,
in late October because it appeared ill, the Illinois Department of Natural
Resources said. Tests on Friday confirmed the diagnosis.
Illinois has been testing deer and elk for the disease for the past
five years, state officials said. Extensive tests are planned during
Illinois' deer hunting season, which begins on Nov. 22. Samples will also be
taken from deer control programs in northeastern Illinois, where hunting is
not allowed.
Winnebago County shares a border with the state of Wisconsin, where
about 40 wild deer have been found with the affliction since it first
emerged in the state in February.
The Wisconsin cases were the first to appear east of the Mississippi
River. The disease has been present in U.S. deer and elk for decades but
until last year was confined mostly to the Rocky Mountain and Plains states.
CWD is in the same family of illnesses as bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (news - web sites), commonly known as mad cow disease, which
can damage brain and nerve tissue.
The disease has never been found to infect humans or cattle, but the
World Health Organization (news - web sites) has advised against eating
venison or any part of an animal showing symptoms.
CWD has been found in wild deer in Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota,
Nebraska, New Mexico and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and
It has also been found in farmed elk in Minnesota, Colorado, South
Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Saskatchewan and Alberta,
Canada.
Wisconsin launched a series of hunts this summer in an effort to
eradicate the deer population in a 400-square-mile zone in the southern part
of the state, where all of its CWD-positive deer have been found.
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