Chronic wasting disease, scourge of wild deer, found for first time in Milwaukee County
The first case of chronic wasting disease has been reported in Milwaukee County after an adult deer in West Allis showed signs of the disease and was killed by a conservation warden for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The 4-year-old deer was found on private property in the general vicinity of Highway 100 between W. Oklahoma and W. National aves. on Dec. 10, according to wildlife biologist Dianne Robinson.
The finding now brings the fatal wildlife disease to Wisconsin's most urban county, and comes 16 years after the first report in the state of a disease that previously had been confined to the western United States.
Robinson said that the deer exhibited clinical signs of chronic wasting disease: It was slightly emaciated, had a "slack-jawed expression" and seemed unaware of its surroundings.
"He didn't show a fear of humans, and he didn't really show an expression of anything," she said.
According to agency protocol, the warden shot the deer and the agency had the deer tested.
The nearest previous report of chronic wasting disease is about 13 miles away in the Delafield area of Waukesha County, Robinson said.
The DNR says it will conduct a surveillance program within a 10-mile radius, including Waukesha County, to determine if other wild deer in the area have been infected.
There is limited hunting in Milwaukee County, so Robinson said the DNR will collect samples from reported nuisance deer that are killed. The agency also hopes to collect as many samples as possible from hunters once the hunting season begins.
The results from the diseased buck is not the first sample of a deer from the county. Robinson said the agency has killed other sick deer in Milwaukee County, but test results did not show evidence of the disease.
In all, 234 deer have been sampled for chronic wasting disease in the county, including 34 during the 2017 hunting season, DNR records show.
As required by state law, the DNR is establishing a three-year baiting and feeding ban in the county, effective Feb. 1.
The ban essentially means people can't place food in their yards or public spaces to feed deer.
Deer are known to spread the fatal disease by personal contact, such as feeding on the same site.
Chronic wasting disease has been found in all neighboring counties except Ozaukee, according to the DNR.
ARCHIVES: With deer hunting woven into our cultural fabric, a threat to herd could turn catastrophic
After its initial discovery in Wisconsin — the first deer in Dane County had been killed during the 2001 hunting season — the disease had been found across large portions of the state.
According to DNR figures, 46 of the state's 72 counties are considered affected counties, meaning there have been reported cases of the disease, or infected deer have been found close to their borders.
Chronic wasting disease affects deer, elk and moose.
The disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, a class of diseases that includes mad cow disease in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
There is no clear link showing chronic wasting disease can infect humans. But the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that people avoid eating venison from positive deer or elk.
RELATED:Can chronic wasting disease jump from deer to humans? Concerns keep rising
RELATED: CWD testing has been slowed by kit shortage
RELATED: Paul A. Smith: State agencies need to stamp out CWD sparks at deer farms
Scientists have been studying whether the disease can spread to humans, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last year that Creutzfeldt-Jakob is showing up more frequently in Wisconsin and nationally.
In 2002, the year CWD was discovered in Wisconsin, six cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob were recorded, according to the state Department of Health Services. In two of the last four years, 13 cases have been recorded. That's a 117% increase.
Nationally, there has also been an increase in Creutzfeldt-Jakob cases. In 2002, there were 260 cases, compared with 481 in 2015, an 85% increase, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Like CWD, Creutzfeldt-Jakob also attacks the brain and is always fatal.