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Michigan Isolates First Case of CWD

Two weeks after Michigan confirmed its first ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), the long days of uncertainty for Michigan deer breeders appear to be nearing closure. So far, state officials have found no evidence of chronic wasting disease in wild deer, nor in the four deer moved from a Kent County farm where the disease was first found. As a result of the continued positive news, state officials are considering lifting the statewide quarantine.

Michigan state veterinarian Steve Halstead explains this is certainly good news for Michigan deer breeders and a plan is being developed to begin easing the quarantine of some of the state's 559 deer breeding farms. The farms and facilities with the cleanest records and without ties to the infected farm could see their quarantine lifted by the end of September.

The tests clear the "first tier" of five deer farms directly connected with the local farm but, according to Halstead, the investigation will now expand to the next tier of farms, numbering in the teens, that supplied or received deer from any of the first-tier farms.

"Now we're looking back upstream, to herds that moved animals into those premises. We're looking where they got their animals from and sent other animals to," he said.

Because of the quality of Michigan's deer stock, the number of deer farms and a ban on importing deer from other states, Michigan farms typically have extensive movement of deer between farms.

"So the whole state is pretty much touched by movement of deer," Halstead said. The quarantine froze movement to find any links to the infected farm.”

The Michigan departments of Agriculture (MDA) and Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed the state’s first case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) two weeks ago at a privately owned cervid (POC) facility in Kent County. The fatal neurological disease was discovered in a three-year old whitetail deer, and the state immediately quarantined all POC facilities, prohibiting the movement of all — dead or alive — privately-owned deer, elk or moose.

DNR and MDA staff reviewed records from the Kent County facility and five others to trace deer that were purchased, sold or moved by the owners in the last five years for deer and the last seven years for elk. Any deer that had come in contact with the CWD-positive herd were traced to their current location and those facilities were quarantined.

“We take this disease very seriously, and are using every resource available to us to implement response measures and stop the spread of this disease,” said MDA Director Don Koivisto.

CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose. Most cases of the disease have been in western states, but in the past several years, it has spread to some mid-western and eastern states.

Infected animals display abnormal behaviors, progressive weight loss and physical debilitation.

Current evidence suggests that the disease is transmitted through infectious, self-multiplying proteins (prions) contained in saliva and other fluids of infected animals. Susceptible animals can acquire CWD by
direct exposure to these fluids or also from contaminated environments. Once contaminated, research suggests that soil can remain a source of infection for long periods of time, making CWD a particularly difficult disease to eradicate.

The deer that tested positive at the Kent County facility was a doe that had been recently culled by the owner of the facility. Michigan law requires sick deer or culled deer on a POC facility be tested for the disease. The samples from the Kent County deer tested “suspect positive” at Michigan State University Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health, and were sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for confirmatory testing.

Audits of the facility by the DNR in 2004 and 2007 showed no escapes of animals from the Kent County facility were reported by the owner. Also, there were no violations of regulations recorded during the audits.

Since 2002, the DNR has tested 248 wild deer in Kent County for CWD. In summer 2005, a number of those deer had displayed neurological symptoms similar to CWD; however, after testing it was determined the deer had contracted Eastern Equine Encephalitis.