The findings don't change the need for continued disease surveillance and research, experts say.
CIDRAP’s CWD contingency planning project is a collaboration of global experts preparing for a possible spillover to humans or other non-cervid species.
A recently published National Institutes of Health (NIH) study provides laboratory evidence of a strong species barrier that may prevent a chronic wasting disease (CWD) spillover from cervids such as deer to humans. While this is good news, the study authors noted that the finding doesn't preclude the possibility of a spillover, which remains a significant concern and a focus of our work.
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The CWD positive is the first at Sheboygan County farm, though the disease had been detected in the area's wild deer.
The fatal neurodegenerative infection was confirmed in a hunter-harvested cow elk in Elk Hunt Area 28 in late December.
During the next 5 years, the farm won't be able to hold cervids—members of the deer family—and must maintain fences and allow routine inspections.
For the first time, CWD was found in Rock, Blaine, and Thomas counties, all in the north-central part of the state.
The sample was obtained from a taxidermist and tested as part of proactive surveillance.
The case was in a cow elk in Elk Hunt Area 122 harvested by a hunter in early November.
The case was in a 2-year-old whitetail buck harvested by a hunter on a low-fenced property and tested through surveillance sampling.
The fatal prion disease has now been confirmed in 32 states.
Utah officials say the prion disease, which is found in deer and other cervids, appears to be spreading in the state.
All deer at the facility had earlier been euthanized, and testing revealed no additional CWD cases.