Exploring the Dynamics of Chronic Wasting Disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a disease of the nervous system in deer and elk that results in distinctive brain lesions. Extensive media coverage in 2002 resulted in renewed efforts to understand this disease. It continues to be a major issue for wildlife scientists throughout the Nation, and a key focus for research at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC). Research is focused on understanding how the disease is transmitted among elk and deer, understanding the patterns of infection, and determining how infection rates differ according to age and sex of the animal. The NWHC is searching for indications of genetic resistance to CWD, as well as developing tools for understanding CWD epidemics. Scientists are also researching the role that infected deer carcasses play in CWD transmission and how feeding and baiting may affect transmission patterns. Further research explores the susceptibility of small mammals and their potential role in the transmission of CWD.

The NWHC continues to investigate CWD in Wisconsin and throughout the Nation. NWHC scientists have provided general information, consultation, and assistance to state agencies. NWHC staff participate in the multi-agency CWD Science and Health Team and the Research Team, providing analyses and advice crucial to determining the distribution of the disease in and around the Midwest. The NWHC has assisted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources by providing scientific expertise and guidance in the development of an environmental impact statement for CWD (the first in the Nation), participating in 6 public hearings about CWD held across the state, participating in special state-sponsored deer harvests as a part of disease control programs, and working alongside state employees to collect samples at tissue-processing centers for CWD testing. By participating in all of these tasks, NWHC scientists are able to take “hands-on” skills to other states agencies and tribes to benefit their CWD programs.

Through collaboration and research, NWHC scientists seek a better understanding of the dynamics of CWD in wild populations as it expands over different landscapes. Scientists at the NWHC are committed to the belief that collaboration with many different agencies is critical to understanding and controlling this disease.