Chronic wasting disease was first detected in Utah's mule deer in 2002, in northeastern Utah, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recently confirmed it has now spread to deer in the Scofield area of Carbon County, as well as new areas of Uintah County.
Chronic wasting disease is a relatively rare transmissible disease that affects the nervous systems of deer, elk and moose. The disease was first discovered in Utah in 2002, in a buck deer taken during the rifle hunt near Vernal.
"The DWR monitors for the spread of chronic wasting disease in big game animals across Utah and conducts check stations each fall during the general-season rifle deer hunts to test harvested deer in specific hunting units," DWR State Wildlife Veterinarian Ginger Stout said. "The samples taken from deer during last fall's check stations were sent to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Logan, and we recently received the last test results."
Between July 1 and Feb. 23, DWR biologists received 2,126 samples for chronic wasting disease testing, 1,479 of which were animals harvested by hunters. Of the total samples, 83 were confirmed positive for chronic wasting disease, and 46 of those samples were submitted by hunters. The number of positive cases was slightly down from the previous hunting season's 98 confirmed cases.
The majority of the positive CWD cases were from northeastern and southeastern Utah, but a positive deer was also located in Scofield, which is a new area for chronic wasting disease in Utah. The Little Mountain/Pine Ridge/Dry Fork area of Uintah County also had positive CWD cases for the first time last fall.
As of Feb. 23, a total of 435 mule deer and 11 elk have tested positive for CWD in Utah. CWD is currently found in areas of northern, northeastern, central, and southeastern Utah. Visit the DWR website to see a map of the areas of Utah with CWD (but note that the map hasn't yet been updated with these latest cases).
"We can't accurately compare each year's positive cases to determine how fast the disease is spreading because we sample areas of the state on a five-year rotation — alternatively, we compare each unit from year to year," Stout said. "However, we are finding the disease in new areas, so unfortunately, it does appear to be spreading in Utah. We are continuing to do extensive monitoring and trying different hunting strategies to stay on top of the disease and its prevalence in the state."
Chronic wasting disease is caused by a misfolded protein, called a prion, that accumulates in the animal's brain and spinal cord. The same type of misfolded protein causes "mad cow disease" in cows and scrapie in sheep. Infected animals develop brain lesions, become emaciated, appear listless and have droopy ears. They may also salivate excessively and will eventually die. Deer in the early stages of chronic wasting disease appear healthy — including animals that may be harvested by hunters — so the only way to know if your deer is infected is to get it tested.
Infected animals may shed prions in their urine, feces and saliva, even when they aren't showing symptoms. Transmission may occur directly through contact with an infected animal or indirectly through environmental contamination. (A dead carcass can contaminate the soil.) Prions are extremely resilient in the environment and can stay infectious for many years.
While the Centers for Disease Control says the risk of transmission from animals to humans is considered extremely low, they recommend not consuming meat from animals infected with CWD.
If you see any deer that appear sick, please report it to the nearest DWR office.