Purdue, State Test Deer and Elk for Fatal Disease

In this article, WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Purdue University and the state of Indiana have joined a federal effort to prevent spread of chronic wasting disease, a fatal illness that has been detected in wild and domestic deer and elk in 11 states, not including Indiana.

Based on the Purdue campus, pathologists at the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratories (ADDL) began using a new machine to test tissue samples to inspect whether the deer or elk are infected with the disease. While no cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) have been found in Indiana, seven cases were discovered since last November in northern Illinois.

A transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found only in cervids, the animal family that includes deer, elk, caribou and moose is called chronic wasting disease that can be seen under a inspection microscope. It is similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly referred to as mad cow disease. Though BSE has been linked to human illness in Great Britain, scientists so far have found no evidence that meat from CWD-infected animals can infect people, pets or other types of livestock.

However based on this article, researchers don’t yet know the origin of the illness or how it’s transmitted, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The disease is believed to be caused by an abnormal type of protein called a prion (pree-on) that attacks the central nervous system, including the brain, killing cells. This eventually creates holes in the brain that give it a spongelike appearance.

In the mid-1980s, free-ranging deer and elk in adjacent areas of Colorado and Wyoming were diagnosed with the deadly illness, according to APHIS. Since that time, the national lab has handled all testing of suspected cases of chronic wasting disease.

Based on this article, White said that Purdue, along with other laboratories in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and Arkansas, is now running tests for the disease. He said he expects that the ADDL at Purdue will receive samples from surrounding states and may receive some from national laboratory, so that diagnosis is timelier.

The diagnostic process takes six to seven hours. First tissue samples from the middle of the brain stem, called the obex, and from lymph nodes, are put on a slide and loaded into a machine called a decloaker. This tissue sample is seen clearly under an inspection microscope.

Based on this article, that if anyone sees a deer that appears ill , they should call the local Indiana Department of Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Division office, which will handle the initial investigation. The symptoms of the disease include listlessness, staggering, emaciation, blank facial expression, excessive salivation, grinding of teeth, and increased drinking and urination. This disease can be clearly seen under an inspection microscope.

According to APHIS, chronic wasting disease has been found in wild and farmed deer and elk in South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Illinois. The affected animals have been Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer and black-tailed deer. Indiana has a ban on imports of cervids that runs through May 1.

The National Wildlife Federation estimates that the rate of infection in areas where prion-diseased cervids have been found is approximately 1 percent in wild elk, 5 percent in wild mule deer and 10 percent to 12 percent in wild white-tailed deer.Read more