[1]
Date: Tue 19 Dec 2000 13:25:42 -0500
From: Brian D. Sauders <bds26@cornell.edu>
Clearly we are in an era when surveillance for infectious diseases in
wildlife is an emerging field in itself. While it is not always clear what
the implications of epidemic infectious diseases in wildlife are for human
populations, it is clear that humans are often "unlucky" victims of
parasites in search of new niches. For public health officials this
creates the difficult task of deciding which diseases are important and
what to do about them. Often diseases that have achieved a significant
morbidity and mortality among human or valuable livestock populations are
prioritized for public health intervention.
In the case of chronic wasting disease in elk, it would seem that despite
efforts to understand the epidemiology of this disease, there is quite a
lot that we do not know. We do know that it is relatively rare, but it
would appear that (at the very least) we are detecting more cases among
domesticated elk herds in recent years. While there are apparent public
health interventions to educate hunters about consumption of emaciated
animals, is anyone aware of how clearly and how often those messages are
given to hunters? Obviously there is no direct evidence of
transmissibility to humans. However, hunters are the most likely consumers
(other than coyotes, wolves, or buzzards) of wild elk.
Are hunters to suspect only animals with overt signs of disease? What would
those signs be? Emaciation would seem a relatively vague term to a hunter
who just harvested an animal that they had spent thousands of dollars to
pursue. Could subclinical or unrecognized CWD lead to transmission to humans?
Is information available to hunters at the time of hunter education or
licensure? Those would seem the most appropriate times to train individual
hunters about what to look for. Pictures of diseased animals with clear
clinical signs could be offered for reference. Also, since the hunter
guiding industry is big business, consider requiring guides to obtain some
basic training in recognizing CWD. Although this may be a difficult task,
educating guides to recognize clear signs of disease would provide
additional aid to the under-funded wildlife health programs. These seem
like interventions that could have a significant impact on enhancing
surveillance for this disease in wild game.
As an avid hunter and professional in public health, it would be
interesting to know what the experts on CWD have to say.
--
Brian D. Sauders
Cornell University
Department of Food Science
<bds26@cornell.edu>
(These comments do not necessarily reflect those of Cornell University or
of the Department of Food Science)
******
[2]
Date: Tue 16 Jan 2001 16:47:24 -0700
From: Beth Williams <storm@uwyo.edu>
In response to Dr. Sauders request for information about how hunters are
informed about chronic wasting disease (CWD) we have the following comments:
Both the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department provide information to hunters about CWD in a variety of ways,
including press releases and interviews resulting in dissemination of
information about CWD in local newspapers (some of which have been picked
up and posted on-line by ProMED-mail); publication of information about CWD
in
agency magazines and newspapers; local radio spots and programs discussing
CWD; production of a video about CWD which has been shown to hunters at
expositions; posting information about CWD on the web sites of both
agencies; providing information about CWD in hunting license application
packets; individual letters to hunters providing information about CWD and
how to get harvested animals tested; contacts with hunters that harvest CWD
test positive animals; and publications in the scientific literature.
The recommendations to deer and elk hunters in the CWD endemic area
(limited to southeastern Wyoming and northeastern Colorado) are not
dependent upon their recognizing sick animals (though hunters are clearly
encouraged not to harvest animals sick animals - whether they be in the
CWD endemic area or not). Recommendations are based on prudence in the
face of some uncertainty and avoiding contact with tissues containing the
potentially infectious agent. The recommendations include wearing latex or
rubber gloves when dressing harvested deer or elk and washing up
afterwards; avoiding contact with brain and spinal cord; discarding the
head, spine, spleen, and lymph nodes; and boning the meat when cutting and
packaging the venison.
A few additional comments. Chronic wasting disease is actually quite rare
in free-ranging elk (<1 percent of hunter harvested animals surveyed); it
is more
common in deer. And although coyotes may well consume deer and elk in the
CWD endemic area, wolves are still quite a long way away from southeastern
Wyoming and northeastern Colorado.
--
Beth Williams
Department of Veterinary Sciences
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
<storm@uwyo.edu>
Mike Miller
Colorado Division of Wildlife
Fort Collins, Colorado
Tom Thorne
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Cheyenne, Wyoming
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail, a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org