Chronic wasting disease on the rise in Ogle County

OREGON – Chronic wasting disease, an always-fatal neurological disease that threatens the long-term health of the region’s white-tailed deer, is on the rise in Ogle County.

The numbers aren’t huge, but are enough of a concern to prompt the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to add a couple of public meetings, including one in Oregon, to its annual CWD informational tour.

Landowners, hunters, and concerned residents are encouraged to attend, and IDNR staff, tasked with finding ways to manage CWD, will be on hand to answer questions.

CWD, normally found in southeastern Ogle County, lately also has been found in the northwest, near Forreston and German Valley, said Doug Dufford, IDNR’s wildlife disease program manager.

First documented in Illinois in 2002 near Roscoe, CWD has been detected in 16 counties across the northern edge and northeastern portions of Illinois as far south as the Illinois River Valley.

The other counties affected are Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, Lake, DeKalb, Kane, DuPage, LaSalle, Kendall, Grundy, Will, Livingston, and Kankakee.

Of those 16, the counties with the most cases as of June 30 were Boone with 11, Stephenson with 10, Jo Daviess, with 9, and Kane and McHenry with 8.

The number of animals that tested positive in Ogle County over the past 5 fiscal years – from July 1 to June 30 – were two in 2012, three in 2013, one in 2014, two in 2015, and six in 2016.

CWD attacks the brains of deer and elk and they eventually die.

Infected deer might not show signs of the disease – excessive salivation, loss of appetite, progressive weight loss, excessive thirst and urination, listlessness, teeth grinding, holding the head in a lowered position and drooping ears – for 18 months or more.

CWD can be transmitted by direct contact among animals in a herd, and through contact with or ingestion of infected saliva, blood, urine and feces. Because it can live in certain soils for many years, transmission by environmental contamination is also be possible.

There is no evidence that the disease can be passed to humans or to livestock, and eating the meat of an infected deer is not considered unsafe. However, because the infectious protein, or prion, that causes CWD accumulates in certain parts of the animal – the brain, eyes, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils and spleen – those tissues should not be eaten, and health officials advise that no part of any animal with evidence of CWD should be eaten by humans or animals.

Hunters are advised to take simple precautions when field dressing deer, such as wearing rubber gloves, boning out the meat, keeping the handling of brain and spinal tissues to a minimum, and washing hands and implements thoroughly.

They also are asked to help track the disease by providing samples of harvested deer when requested and by alerting authorities when they find deer that are or are suspected to be infected.

THE MEETINGS

The IDNR is holding two informational meetings on chronic wasting disease this month, ahead of the firearm deer-hunting season, which this year runs from Nov. 18 to 20, and Dec. 1 to 4.

Both meetings begin at 7 p.m. with a 30-minute presentation and discussion to follow.

The Ogle County meeting is Oct. 18 at the Nash Recreation Center, 304 S. Fifth St. in Oregon.

The other meeting is Oct. 19 in the Big Rock Park District Community Building, 7S405 Madison, in Big Rock in Kane County.

Several meetings already were held in September, in Freeport, Elizabeth, and Yorkville.

Contact Doug Dufford, IDNR's wildlife disease program manager at 815-369-2414 or doug.dufford@illinois.gov for more information.