The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) announced today that testing of Ohio’s deer herd found no evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD). CWD is a degenerative brain disease that affects elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer.
According to the ODNR Division of Wildlife, state and federal agriculture and wildlife officials collected 519 samples in 2012. For the 11th consecutive year, all samples were negative for CWD. Since CWD was first discovered in the late 1960s in the western United States, there has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
Since 2002, the ODNR Division of Wildlife, in conjunction with the ODA Division of Animal Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife and Veterinary Services, has conducted surveillance throughout the state for CWD. While CWD has never been found in Ohio’s deer herd, it had been diagnosed in wild and captive deer, moose, or elk in 22 states and two Canadian provinces. Since CWD was discovered in the western United States in the late 1960s, there has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
The ODNR Division of Wildlife continues to carefully monitor the health of Ohio’s wild deer herd throughout the year. Visit ohioagriculture.gov or wildohio.com for the latest information on CWD or the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance at cwd-info.org. All CWD testing is performed at the ODA Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
Logo courtesy Ohio Department of Natural Resources