All you need to know about Chronic Wasting Disease

PRESS RELEASE

March 3, 2004

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a prion disease similar to BSE and scrapie is spreading through the deer population of North America.

Although at present contained among elk (a sub-species of the red deer found in the UK), mule deer and white-tailed deer, it poses a potential risk to the cervid (deer) populations of any country importing deer from North America or with substantial wild populations of deer. This includes zoos, deer farmers and the wild herds of Europe.

CWD causes neurological signs, weight loss and death. There is no evidence that it is transmissible to humans or non-cervid domestic livestock, but it is not yet known whether it may be transmitted to other deer species or their predators. In North America, there is considerable concern about the effects CWD may have on wild populations of deer and elk and on traditional activities such as wildlife tourism and hunting.

The Wildlife Information Network, a charity which is dedicated to making information on the health and management of captive and free-ranging wild animals and emerging infectious diseases available to wildlife professionals and decision-makers worldwide, has just released a new volume of their electronic encyclopaedia on CWD in deer, available over the Internet and on CD-ROM.

It contains valuable information for anyone who needs to know more about this emerging disease, from policy-makers and disease investigators to veterinarians, deer farmers and the general public.

Detailed disease descriptions and recommended management techniques are enhanced by technical summaries and comparisons with the other TSE diseases, videos, photographs and cross-references to external documents. Information is peer reviewed by CWD experts and fully referenced.

Chronic Wasting Disease is available to members of WIN on CD-ROM for in-field working and via the Web-based encyclopaedia.

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Issued on behalf of Wildlife Information Network by Woodcote Communications.

For further information, please contact

An image showing a section of a deer brain affected by CWD is available on request from Iain Boardman.

A copy of the CD-ROM for review purposes will be forwarded in the next few days.