Canada optimistic that deer disease didn't spread
Date: 22-Mar-02
Country: CANADA
Author: Kanina Holmes
The province had asked hunters to turn in the heads of wild elk, white-tailed and mule deer after two wild mule deer tested positive for the disease last spring. More than 5,300 heads were collected during the autumn and over 4,000 were analyzed.
All tests of the animal's brain tissue came back negative, provincial officials said yesterday.
"We recognize that we'll have to keep monitoring the situation for at least another three, if not five years and if we continue to get zero positives for that length of time we'll start to get some confidence that maybe it's looked after," said Kevin Omoth, Saskatchewan's manager for the disease.
"There's lots we don't know about the disease, but we are aware that it can be out there and not necessarily be found."
Canada's first case of wild deer with chronic wasting disease, sometimes called mad deer disease, was found in Saskatchewan in spring last year. A subsequent cull of about 200 deer turned up another case.
The brain-wasting illness belongs to the same family of diseases as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad cow disease. A deadly human version of BSE, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, has killed dozens of people in Britain after they ate BSE-tainted beef.
The disorder has been present in North American deer and elk herds for decades. Earlier this month, Wisconsin reported an outbreak, the first cases east of the Mississippi River.
CWD has devastated Saskatchewan's game farm industry after it was detected in an ranch elk in 1996. In January, another case was confirmed, for a total of 227 positive tests among 39 herds. About 7,500 animals have been destroyed.
Elk are raised for meat and antler velvet which is used in homeopathic remedies and as aphrodisiacs, especially in Asia.
Last August, South Korea, which had temporarily suspended Canadian elk antler imports, reported CWD infection in a deer imported from Canada in 1997.
Scientists do not know what causes CWD or how it spreads, and they have found no evidence that it can spread to humans or traditional livestock.
Animal health experts said the number of cases on Canadian farms appear to be tapering off, a sign that extensive culling and surveillance programs are effective.