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Wasting disease confirmed in fifth Canadian deer |
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| CANADA: December 2, 2002 | ||
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WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Another case of chronic wasting disease in wild deer, a fatal neurological disorder similar to mad cow disease, was confirmed last week in the Canadian Prairie province of Saskatchewan.
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A two-year-old mule deer, killed by hunters this fall in the southwestern part of the province, was tested as part of a monitoring program. It's the fifth case of the disease in the province since 1990. The brain-wasting illness belongs to the same family of diseases as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease. A deadly human version of BSE, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, killed dozens of people in Britain after they ate BSE-tainted beef. Health officials say chronic wasting disease in deer poses no known risk to humans or domestic livestock. So far this fall, Saskatchewan hunters have submitted 2,300 deer heads to be tested for the disease, the government said. There is no live test for the illness. The province has tested about 5,500 samples for the disease during the past four years. The disease, which has not been found in wild animals in other Canadian provinces, has destroyed markets for domestic elk farms since it was first detected on a ranch in 1996. More than 7,500 animals have been slaughtered because they were thought to have had contact with infected elk. Earlier this month, the disease was also found in a domesticated white-tailed deer on an Alberta ranch.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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