Fatal disease not yet found in Southeast Missouri deer

About 65 people attended a public meeting at Cape Girardeau Nature Center on Wednesday night to hear officials from the Missouri Department of Conservation provide information about chronic wasting disease, a fatal condition in deer that has been detected in north-central Missouri.

"We want citizens of Southeast Missouri to know that no cases of CWD have been found in their area," said Larry Yamnitz, the department's chief of the Protection Division. "We intend to keep it that way."

A presentation by Dr. Mike Hubbard, the department's chief of research science, informed the audience that 21 captive and free-ranging deer in north-central Missouri have died since the first cases of CWD were detected in 2010 and 2011.

"We've discovered that deer-to-deer contact is the most common way for CWD to spread," Hubbard said. "Another way is for it to spread indirectly from the environment."

CWD is a degenerative nerve disease that causes holes to develop in a deer's brain. The holes cause the deer to lose neurological control and coordination, resulting in an inability to eat and causing the deer to waste away and die. There is no vaccine or cure, but the disease is not known to infect humans.

The Department of Conservation has taken action to contain the spread of CWD, Hubbard said.

"We've eliminated the four-point rule in the six-county zone where the disease originated," he said, "and yearlings that tend to move around a lot have been allowed to be hunted. We've also eliminated the feeding of animals in the zone."

The four-point rule refers the number of points on at least one of a buck's antlers. Such animals can be hunted.

The meeting was opened up for questions after Hubbard's presentation. Jackie Rowe of Marble Hill, Mo., asked whether there was a way to decontaminate an area known to be a source of CWD.

"We don't know of a way to treat a contaminated area," said Dr. Jason Sumners, deer biologist with the Department of Conservation.

"So that means an area can continue to be a source of the disease and nothing can be done about it?" Rowe asked.

"Unfortunately, that's correct," Sumners said.

Mike Steinmeyer of Cape Girardeau County asked whether there was a way to test for CWD on live deer.

"Right now, testing can only be done on dead deer," said Dr. Kelly Straka, a state wildlife veterinarian. "It involves the removal of their lymph nodes, and positive tests have to be confirmed by a USDA lab in Ames, Iowa."

Allen Morris of Jackson asked Sumners whether he would eat a deer known to be infected with CWD.

"I wouldn't eat any animal that had a disease," Sumners said, "but there is no evidence that CWD is transferable to humans."

At the end of the meeting, reaction was mixed concerning the Department of Conservation's efforts to contain the disease.

"I think MDC is on top of it," said Jeff Flentge of Perryville, Mo. "I'm not worried about CWD."

Mike Roberts of Sikeston, Mo., said he hoped the department does what "they're paid to do."

"They need to keep an eye on this," Roberts said. "We don't need the disease to spread down here."

For more information on CWD, visit mdc.mo.gov. Comments can also be posted online at mdc.mo.gov/deerhealth.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address: 2289 County Park Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO