2002 CWD Surveillance Completed

Researchers from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab recently completed tests to monitor chronic wasting disease (CWD), a wildlife disease that affects deer and elk.

Researchers analyzed 2,550 samples from deer and elk harvested during Wyoming’s 2002 hunting season, of these, 105 deer and 5 elk tested positive. Currently, there are 152 Deer Hunt Areas in Wyoming, and CWD has been found in 23. (see map HI RES - LO RES and table)

It has only been found in three elk hunt areas and eight elk, during the six years of surveillance. Because of this low prevalence rate in elk the Department records elk positives on the deer hunt area maps.

The Wyoming State Vet Lab is a cooperator on CWD surveillance efforts. They read slides, containing stained brain material collected from deer and elk, to determine if the CWD prion is present.

“Working with people from the state vet lab has been a great opportunity. They share in the workload, and add the world renowned expertise of Dr. Elizabeth Williams,” says Wals Cook Wyoming Game and Fish Department Veterinarian. “The partnership allows us to get reliable results in a timely manner.”

CWD was first documented in southeast Wyoming in the late 1960’s, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department started conducting CWD surveillance in 1997. The Department monitors the occurrence of CWD in two ways. They obtain samples from deer and elk harvested during hunting seasons, called hunter surveillance and from animals suspected of having CWD, called targeted surveillance.

“Hunters provide us with the vast majority of our information,” says Bob Lanka, Laramie Region’s wildlife coordinator. “Samples from harvested animals are used to document the location, occurrence and prevalence of the disease.”

In 2002, the Department found CWD in five hunt areas where it had not been documented in the past, but did not find it in four areas where it had previously been documented.

“We are finding CWD in new places because we are looking harder near areas with documented cases,” says Lanka. “We plan to intensify surveillance again this fall in an effort to find the leading edge of the disease.”

The Department plans to conduct statewide surveillance next year, and will plan to use, the ELISA test, a new test that is quicker to administer, but that has proven to be effective.

Department employees will be stationed at various locations to take retropharyngeal lymph nodes, located at the angle of the jaw, from mule deer and white-tailed deer during the first five days of hunting seasons in designated hunt areas.

Those interested in finding out more about CWD in Wyoming can check out the Wyoming Game and Fish website at http://gf.state.wy.us/cwd