With the 2007-08 Georgia deer season upon us, evidence that the closest confirmed case of Chronic Wasting Disease in deer is several hundred miles from Georgia borders (West Virginia) shouldn't lessen CWD concerns of local sportsmen.
Efforts to keep the disease inside the boundaries of West Virginia should remain a prime concern as preventing infestation will certainly be easier than eliminating infected deer populations and environmental contamination. It is a classic case of "an ounce of prevention."
CWD affects North American hoofed ruminant mammals (cervids) in which the males typically have antlers. This list includes whitetail deer, mule deer, elk and moose. CWD was first identified in Colorado in 1967. It is now considered endemic to northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming, and as of September 2006, it has been found in 14 states, including Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, along with Canadian provinces Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The two latest confirmed cases of CWD were reported in New Mexico's Organ Mountains in July 2007, and in LaSalle County, Ill., in August 2007. CWD belongs to a group of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which includes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
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