- The news is not good and comes as no surprise. As we've
stated many times on the program and the site, there is no known way for
humans to interfere with the rapid progress of this catastrophe. 'Kill
zones' and all the rest of the approaches to date to eradicate it are beyond
ridiculous and sheer stupidity. And still hunters are going out and killing
- and eating - these animals. They've been warned but most choose to dismiss
such information. -ed
-
- Hello Jeff -
-
- The cases of CWD that we have identified are only the
"tip of the iceberg." Many states, including my own state of
New York, are not aggressively looking for CWD. I recently contacted the
NY State Pathologist about a susepcted case of either CWD or rabies in
a white tailed doe. NY State does not have anyone to send out to investigate
the suspect case. They rely on the premise that there are no reported
or identified cases of CWD in New York State, therefore, CWD does not exist
in the State.
-
- I believe that the new rapid test now being implemented
by Wisconsin is actually catching deer in the very early stage of CWD.
There will be some wildlife officials who prefer to ignore the results
of the new test, indicating CWD is spreading rapidly, and simply say the
test results are "false" positives.
-
- CWD, mad cow disease of deer, is epidemic and sooner
or later, wildlife officials will have to admit the obvious.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE, CERVIDS - WISCONSIN
-
- A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail, a program of the International
Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org
-
-
-
- Wasting disease: Whitetails Unlimited says CWD findings
could raise new fears ------------------------------------------------
A new test that found preliminary indicators of chronic wasting disease
in wild deer in more than a dozen additional counties could lead to a new
wave of fear about the disease among hunters, the leader of Whitetails
Unlimited said Thursday.
-
- "It raises questions, and here we go, fear of the
unknown again," President Jeff Schinkten said. "If they are really
finding stuff, that is reason for concern."
-
- According to state records reviewed by the Associated
Press, 159 deer shot last fall tested positive for the disease on a new
screening -- or rapid test -- approved by the U.S. Agriculture Department
and used by the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for the first
time.
-
- However, through Thursday, only 42 of those positives
were confirmed with a second test -- immunohistochemistry -- that's considered
the "gold standard" for diagnosing so-called mad-deer disease.
Dr. Mark Hall, head of pathology at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, said chronic wasting
disease can only be confirmed by immunohistochemisty, he said.
-
- Based on testing the past 2 years, the state Department
of Natural Resources says it has found 316 wild deer with the disease in
8 southern counties - Columbia, Dane, Iowa, Kenosha, Richland, Rock, Sauk,
and Walworth.
-
- The new test -- called the IDEXX screening test -- so
far in 2004 has detected deer positive for the disease in 14 additional
counties: Chippewa, Crawford, Dodge, Eau Claire, Grant, Jefferson, LaFayette,
Manitowoc, Marinette, Marquette, Portage, Taylor, Vernon, and Waukesha,
state records show.
-
- The screening test is designed to produce some false
positive results so no animals with the disease are missed, said Julie
Langenberg, a wildlife veterinarian for the state Department of Natural
Resources.
-
- Still, Langenberg acknowledges "there's a possibility"
the new test is detecting some deer at an earlier stage of the disease.
-
- The DNR found chronic wasting disease in 3 bucks shot
near Mount Horeb in 2002, marking the first time it was found east of the
Mississippi River.
-
- The disease jeopardizes Wisconsin's annual $1 billion
deer-hunting industry, because health experts warn no part of a diseased
deer should be eaten. There is no scientific evidence the disease, discovered
in Colorado in 1967, can infect people.
-
- Steve Oestreicher, chairman of the Wisconsin Conservation
Congress, one of the state's leading hunting and fishing groups, said Thursday
he wouldn't read too much into the IDEXX test results, given the DNR uses
it as a screening tool.
-
- "I don't think it will cause a firestorm,"
he said. "There is certainly the possibility that CWD is on the landscape
more than we think. We certainly hope not, but that is very possible.
Right now, we just keep our faith in the veterinary lab."
-
- Hunters in Wisconsin are not told whether a deer they
shot tested positive on the IDEXX test. If the deer tests negative on the
IDDEX test, it's not tested a second time. Schinkten and Oestreicher said
those results probably should be reported to the hunter.
-
- "I won't feed deer to my family if I hear positive.
Why take any kind of chance?" Schinkten said. Hunters should decide
for themselves whether the screening test results are mostly false positives
or "has somebody uncovered something here," Schinkten said.
-
- A landowners group critical of the DNR's handling of
the disease says hunters should be told that deer are testing positive
for the disease with one test but not the other, giving them the most complete
information in deciding whether to eat the venison.
-
- Citizens and Landowners for a Rational Response believes
the results of the new testing likely provide early evidence that CWD is
more widespread across the state, said spokesman Mark Peck, a landowner
from Arena.
-
- During the deer-hunting season immediately after chronic
wasting disease was found in Wisconsin, license sales dropped 10 percent.
Sales rebounded the next season after the DNR reported the disease had
not been found elsewhere in the state following the testing of tens of
thousands of deer with immunohistochemistry.
-
- A drop in hunter interest could develop again if people
have concerns about the positive results of the screening test, Schinkten
said. "I got to believe this rapid test has some validity to it somewhere,"
he said.
-
- But Schinkten said some are so sick of hearing about
CWD that the recent developments will mean little to them. "There
are some people who are just fed up with CWD," he said.
-
- http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/states/wisconsin/8164937.htm
-
- -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
-
- [According to the website for IDEXX laboratories on the
HerdChek test, this is a USDA-approved rapid test for White-tailed deer
with 98.8 percent sensitivity and 100 percent specificity.
-
- http://www.idexx.com/production/ruminant/ruminant7.cfm
-
- Although there may be false positives, probably no true
positives are missed.
-
- This kind of an increase raises some questions. Are there
that many false positives? Is the rapid test detecting the presence of
the prion at much lower levels than immunohistochemistry? Has this disease
always been present in cervid populations at undetectable levels? or has
the disease been present, and we have previously written the deaths off
as winter kill, starvation, overpopulation, or some other term that was
appropriate at the time? There are no easy answers to these questions
and perhaps no answers at all. But we certainly have more questions about
this disease than we have answers. - Mod.TG]
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health
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