Epizootic hemorrhagic disease detected in white-tailed deer in the Panhandle Region

If this has been posted before please disregard...I couldn't find any current threads on it!

So far it seems to be just being reported in deer (a few cases in elk) and that's about all I am seeing so far.

It seems in between the EHD and the CWD something is very wrong with the deer population right now. My concern is that so far they are saying it is not a concern to humans and humans cannot contract either of these. That's all good for now...this is really a relatively new thing and as new things go...they don't know much!

Multiple samples collected from dead deer in the Panhandle have tested positive for epizootic hemorrhagic disease.

The diseased deer were recently discovered in big game units 2 and 5 in the Plummer, Coeur d’Alene and Rathdrum areas. Fish and Game has also received reports of dead deer in locations ranging from the Bonners Ferry area down to Plummer.

It is difficult to estimate how many deer are being affected, but the number of reports received is currently less than 30. Fish and Game staff will continue to monitor the situation in the weeks ahead, but it is expected that deaths will continue until temperatures drop below freezing to kill the biting gnats that transmit the disease.

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease



BODYCAM: Something Is Very Wrong With This Deer

I have been hunting my whole life and never seen anything like it. Some are calling it "zombie deer syndrome". Which is actually something different maybe...that's what "they" are saying.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose. It has been found in some areas of North America, including Canada and the United States, Norway and South Korea. It may take over a year before an infected animal develops symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms. CWD can affect animals of all ages and some infected animals may die without ever developing the disease. CWD is fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines.

CWD

a reply to: jerryznv

What does it do to humans who eat them?

Anything similar to mad-cow?

originally posted by: infolurker
a reply to: jerryznv

What does it do to humans who eat them?

Anything similar to mad-cow?

Well I don't know...here is the answer from The Idaho Official Government Website!

Our veterinary staff never recommends eating an animal with a fever and a widespread systemic infection. Deer that survive an EHD infection are safe to eat. These animals may exhibit a dark, gritty liver. Our veterinary staff always recommends thoroughly cooking all game meat.

Deer that survive are apparently safe to eat!

Although the chronic wasting disease is something else and it's unclear really...

There has never been a recorded case of cervid-human transmission, but the Center for Disease Control advises against eating meat from infected animals. And the World Health Organization has recommended since at least 1997 that known agents of prion diseases be kept out of the food chain. The bottom line is that, because they are not alive, CWD prions cannot be killed—they remain present in soils and the environment for years after an outbreak. You certainly cannot “cook them out” of your venison.

LINK

According to this...it cannot be cooked out but there has never been a case of cervid-human transmission.

I live in the panhandle, in the mountains north of CdA. There have been sporadic reports of both diseases in the deer population, over the past several years... but it isn't nearly as dire as the OP suggests.

We live in deer central. We have yet to see signs in our local whitetails or mule deer... not saying it isn't happening, but it is far from epidemic.

Those biting gnats cited in the story? Those little bastages all froze to death a month ago.

originally posted by: madmac5150
I live in the panhandle, in the mountains north of CdA. There have been sporadic reports of both diseases in the deer population, over the past several years... but it isn't nearly as dire as the OP suggests.

We live in deer central. We have yet to see signs in our local whitetails or mule deer... not saying it isn't happening, but it is far from epidemic.

Those biting gnats cited in the story? Those little bastages all froze to death a month ago.

I wasn't trying to project this as "dire"...

It is difficult to estimate how many deer are being affected, but the number of reports received is currently less than 30.

"Far from epidemic..." is a good analogy since nobody used that word or phrase!

Good to hear all the gnats froze...they kind of suggested that may happen...

but it is expected that deaths will continue until temperatures drop below freezing to kill the biting gnats that transmit the disease.

originally posted by: infolurker
a reply to: jerryznv

What does it do to humans who eat them?

Anything similar to mad-cow?

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CWD) are both prion diseases and CWD may/likely has the potential to infect humans.

First recognized in deer and elk in Wyoming and Colorado, it has spread to at least 26 states. I began reading about it being in Idaho nearly 20 years ago with constant media warnings given to hunters and those who consume wild game.

CWD is a variant of BSE. An outbreak of BSE in cattle began in the 80's in the UK.

It seems international transport has opened a whole new way of transplanting undesirable things, in addition to the willful introduction of non-native species.

Africanized Honey Bees, Asian Giant Hornets and Fire Ants are but a few that have received media attention. Far fewer every get even honorable mention, such as the English Sparrow and Canadian wolf.

'Progress' does have a price, it seems.

a reply to: jerryznv

Just a note that this is from Friday, September 10, 2021 - 6:18 PM MDT.

None of the hunters I know here in NW Montana have noticed anything like this over the past season. But it's good to know!

originally posted by: LetsGoViking
a reply to: jerryznv

Just a note that this is from Friday, September 10, 2021 - 6:18 PM MDT.

None of the hunters I know here in NW Montana have noticed anything like this over the past season. But it's good to know!

Yes...that particular article was from September of 2021...and hence I linked the other article!

I don't think that it is too old to report on (share here)...but it could be gone I suppose by now!

To be fair though...here are some reports of it in 2022 in rabbits in my neck of the woods!

2022 reports in Oregon

Idaho seems to have updated a few things since 2021 for sure:

Hunting changes in Idaho for 2022

Chronic wasting disease was detected for the first time ever in Idaho in deer and elk in Unit 14, and Fish and Game staff developed a plan to keep the percentage of animals infected with the CWD low (less than 5 percent), and slow the geographic spread of it. Fish ad Game Director Ed Schriever described changes as a “measured response” to managing CWD.

Apparently it is still a concern...although reportedly less than 5%!

JKD was found in certain families in I think(iirc) Tennessee or Kentucky. It was affecting women in these families. The common thing between the families affected was that the women all ate the brains from squirrels. The s uirrels were cooked with the heads on the carcass.
I avoid cutting deer down the back like we did in the old days. I strip the loins out and bone out the front and hind quarters, just to be safe.
Kuru (another form of JKD) was found to occur in cannibals in the Philippines. The women were the only ones affected. They were the ones that ate the brains. Men ate the muscle tissue from the legs and arms.

a reply to: nugget1

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CWD) are both prion diseases and CWD may/likely has the potential to infect humans.

A bit scary...there seems to be no definitive evidence (yet) that humans can contract this from wildlife. Heavy emphasis on the yet!

The more I read and understand about it...the less I actually really understand! It seems to be somewhat of a mystery and it's still not fully understood I gather!

a reply to: jerryznv

Yeah, CWD is a huge issue still here in the Flathead Valley and Mission mountains. That's why I haven't bothered to go hunting for the past few years.

But thanks again for the heads up,and I'll post back if I hear anything new from our neck of the woods!

Cheers!

originally posted by: LetsGoViking
a reply to: jerryznv

Yeah, CWD is a huge issue still here in the Flathead Valley and Mission mountains. That's why I haven't bothered to go hunting for the past few years.

But thanks again for the heads up,and I'll post back if I hear anything new from our neck of the woods!

Cheers!

Any updates would be great!

I'll surely update with news from this neck of the woods too!

We have a lot of whitetail here on the coast of Oregon...I'll definitely hear more for sure!

Here's a snippet from an earlier time:

PENDLETON, Ore. – Tests conducted by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife veterinarians confirmed that Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is responsible for the die-off of an estimated 2,000 white-tailed deer in eastern Oregon.

Whitetail Deer Die Off in Eastern Oregon

CWD Check in Oregon

November 16, 2022

SALEM, Ore.— ODFW will host a check station to sample elk for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) during Western Coast elk second season on Saturday, Nov. 19 from 8 a.m. to dusk in Blodgett. The location is a large gravel parking lot at the junction of State Highway 20 and County Road 180 (44.59741, -123.51990), on the north side of the highway.

This is from this hunting season!

ODFW has sampled more than 24,000 deer and elk for CWD over the past 20 years as the disease began to spread from Colorado and Wyoming to other states due to animal migrations and movements of live animals and carcasses by people. Oregon's surveillance effort has not detected CWD in free-ranging deer, elk or moose within our borders. Unfortunately, it was found in mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk and white-tailed deer in NW Idaho, just 30 miles from the Oregon border, late last year.

originally posted by: jerryznv
a reply to: nugget1

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CWD) are both prion diseases and CWD may/likely has the potential to infect humans.

A bit scary...there seems to be no definitive evidence (yet) that humans can contract this from wildlife. Heavy emphasis on the yet!

The more I read and understand about it...the less I actually really understand! It seems to be somewhat of a mystery and it's still not fully understood I gather!

mad cow emerged in the UK in the mid-1980s after cattle ate bone meal of sheep infected with scrapie, a similar brain-wasting disease. The disease then made the jump to people through infected beef products, causing a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Such a change has yet to happen with CWD. So far, its path of destruction appears to have stopped at the human body.

Canadian researchers found that macaque monkeys contracted CWD after eating infected deer. The results mark the first time the disease has been shown to spread to a primate through meat, rather than through a direct injection of CWD prions into the nervous system.

“While most research shows there’s a robust species barrier, this recent study showed that barrier might not be quite as robust as we once thought,” Dunfee said.

Research by Mark Zabel, the associate director of the Prion Research Center at Colorado State University, has found the agents behind the “zombie disease” are highly susceptible to change and are likely still evolving.

[www.durangoherald.com...]

It's just a matter of time.

originally posted by: nugget1

originally posted by: jerryznv
a reply to: nugget1

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CWD) are both prion diseases and CWD may/likely has the potential to infect humans.

A bit scary...there seems to be no definitive evidence (yet) that humans can contract this from wildlife. Heavy emphasis on the yet!

The more I read and understand about it...the less I actually really understand! It seems to be somewhat of a mystery and it's still not fully understood I gather!

mad cow emerged in the UK in the mid-1980s after cattle ate bone meal of sheep infected with scrapie, a similar brain-wasting disease. The disease then made the jump to people through infected beef products, causing a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Such a change has yet to happen with CWD. So far, its path of destruction appears to have stopped at the human body.

Canadian researchers found that macaque monkeys contracted CWD after eating infected deer. The results mark the first time the disease has been shown to spread to a primate through meat, rather than through a direct injection of CWD prions into the nervous system.

“While most research shows there’s a robust species barrier, this recent study showed that barrier might not be quite as robust as we once thought,” Dunfee said.

Research by Mark Zabel, the associate director of the Prion Research Center at Colorado State University, has found the agents behind the “zombie disease” are highly susceptible to change and are likely still evolving.

[www.durangoherald.com...]

It's just a matter of time.

Very interesting read!

Thank you...sheds some light on it!

This particular passage caught my attention right at the end:

Nationwide, there has been an 85 percent increase in CJD cases from 2002 to 2015 – something national health officials chalk up to better monitoring efforts and an aging population.

85% increase is enormous...I understand that there is more monitoring efforts...but still 85% is huge!

I like that they add "While most research..." what about the rest of it? Let me see all the research please!

I wonder what that other part of the research might indicate!

“While most research shows there’s a robust species barrier, this recent study showed that barrier might not be quite as robust as we once thought,”

This was a pretty good visual depiction on some of the information in this discussion so I wanted to share it!

There seems to be tons of information and it seems endless...I am having a tough time understanding a good portion of it honestly!



This is from the University of Florida (long ways away) but the charts and maps seem to be really good!

CHeRI

First case in New Hampsire Sept. 2022

Another gain of function "leak"?

Klaus Schwab wet dream.

originally posted by: v1rtu0s0
Another gain of function "leak"?

Klaus Schwab wet dream.

It's hard to say what it is about right now! What does seem to be evident though, is that it is growing and being recorded as such. It's difficult for me to imagine that it is just happening out of thin air! It begs the question why...why is this happening to wildlife and why are we just now starting to pay notice to it?

I share your sentiments about Klaus Schwab but this seems a little outside of his territory. I see no profit in this one really (although I am hardly a expert on it at all)!