Nine samples of chronic wasting disease affecting deer detected in Allamakee County

Nine samples from hunter-harvested deer collected near Harpers Ferry during the 2016 hunting seasons have tested positive for the always-fatal chronic wasting disease, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported Wednesday.

DNR wildlife management biologist Terry Haindfield said he was not surprised at the surge in confirmed cases, which brings to 15 the total CWD-positive deer from the area.

'We were hoping for fewer positives, but the disease is here, and we are looking harder for it,” Haindfield said.

The DNR collected 421 samples from the intensive focus zone around Harpers Ferry, the site of the six previous positives, and another 150 samples from outside the focus zone but still within Allamakee County, Haindfield said.

Jim Jansen, the DNR's northeast Iowa wildlife supervisor, said some test results still are pending and the number of positives could go higher.

Iowa's first wild deer tested positive in 2013, followed by three in 2014, two in 2015 and nine so far in 2016.

Following the three positive tests in 2014, the DNR enlisted the help of local hunters and landowners to collect additional samples from the focus zone in February 2015. A similar collection effort is underway now and will continue through Feb. 5, Haindfield said.

The DNR, he added, has recruited about 325 people to help with the scientific collection effort in targeted areas in and around the focus zone.

With 529 special tags available, the DNR said it hopes to collect an additional 250 to 300 samples. Since the effort began on Jan. 21, 40 deer have been brought in for testing, Haindfield said.

The samples will provide additional information on the extent of the disease while removing animals from the herd, thus making it more difficult for the highly contagious disease to spread from one deer to another. That typically occurs through nose-to-nose contact or exposure to infected urine, feces and saliva.

'Our main goal now is to slow the spread,” Jansen said.

CWD belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or prion diseases. It attacks the brains of infected deer and elk, causing them to lose weight, display abnormal behavior, lose body functions and die.

Since 2002, the DNR has tested more than 60,000 deer for the disease. The effort has been focused on portions of northeast and Eastern Iowa near Wisconsin and Illinois, where the disease is much more prevalent, and in south-central Iowa near Missouri, where the disease has been detected.

Haindfield said the DNR is using the occasion to educate Iowans on other ways to slow the spread of the disease.

The use of food piles and salt/mineral licks only serves to concentrate deer and facilitate transmission of CWD, he said.

Likewise, he said, deer bones or carcasses should be properly disposed of in a landfill rather than left to rot in the field.