Background

The term Bird Flu has sparked interest, concern and even panic in some parts of the world. The fact that the virus may be carried in migrant populations of wild birds means that it can be transported from one country, and even continent, to another.

On April 2, 2015, the first case of avian influenza was confirmed in South Dakota in a commercial turkey flock in Beadle County. GFP is working with both the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the South Dakota Animal Industry Board. Currently, USDA surveillance efforts are underway to sample waterfowl in South Dakota.

Since December 2014, the federal government has confirmed several cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in 13 states (including South Dakota) of the Pacific, Central and Mississippi flyways. Only H5N2 has been detected in South Dakota.

Symptoms

• Poultry affected by avian influenza can show signs of decreased food consumption, respiratory problems, decreased egg production, greenish diarrhea, excessive thirst and swollen wattles and combs.
• Wild birds may have symptoms including edema or swelling of the head, nasal discharge, decreased activity, ruffled feathers, diarrhea and tremors.

Remember

• Do not handle or eat sick game.
• Prepare game in a well-ventilated area.
• Wear rubber or disposable latex gloves while handling and cleaning game.
• Wash hands thoroughly with soap or disinfectant, clean knives, equipment, and surfaces that come in contact with game.
• Do not eat, drink, or smoke while handling animals.
• All game should be thoroughly cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

What is CWD?

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal brain disease of deer, elk, and moose that is caused by an abnormal protein called a prion. Animals infected with CWD show progressive loss of weight and body condition, behavioral changes, excessive salivation, increased drinking and urination, depression, loss of muscle control and eventual death. Chronic wasting disease is always fatal for the afflicted animal. The disease can not be diagnosed by observation of physical symptoms because many big game diseases affect animals in similar ways.

Where is CWD found?

CWD was first described in a Colorado Division of Wildlife captive deer research facility in 1967 and a few years later in a similar Wyoming research facility. CWD was first found in free-roaming wildlife in a white-tailed deer in Fall River County during the 2001 big game hunting season. In South Dakota, CWD has only been detected in free-roaming wildlife in Lawrence, Pennington, Custer, and Fall River Counties, Custer State Park, and Wind Cave National Park.

How often does CWD occur?

Surveillance by hunter-harvest survey and testing of sickly deer and elk implies CWD is relatively rare in free-roaming cervids when the number of animals present is considered. Thus far, in South Dakota, nineteen years of surveillance and testing of wild deer and elk have shown 191 CWD positive deer and 169 CWD positive elk out of 26,318 deer and elk tested. Of the 360 positive animals, Wind Cave National Park has discovered 118 elk and 10 deer that tested positive. Custer State Park has discovered 18 elk and 1 deer that have tested positive. In the 2016-2017 sampling period, 55 animals (5 deer, 50 elk) were found that were infected with CWD.

How is CWD transmitted?

How the pathogenic prion is transmitted from diseased animals to healthy ones is believed to be through direct animal to animal contact and/or contamination of feed or water sources with saliva, urine, and/or feces. Numerous organizations and individual scientists across the United States and Canada are continuing to conduct detailed investigations in an effort to obtain a definitive answer to the route of transmission. Evidence shows that infected carcasses may serve as a source of infection. CWD seems more likely to occur in areas where deer or elk are crowded or where they congregate at man-made feed and water stations. Artificial feeding of deer and elk will likely compound the problem.

Is CWD transmissible to humans?

Public health officials and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia have found no link between CWD and any neurological disease in humans. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.
To minimize their risk of exposure to CWD, hunters should:

• Consult with their state wildlife agencies to identify areas where CWD occurs and take appropriate precautions when hunting in such areas.
• Avoid eating meat from deer and elk that look sick or that test positive for CWD.
• Consider having the deer or elk tested for CWD before consuming the meat if the animal was harvested from an area known to have CWD-positive animals. (Information about testing is available from most state wildlife agencies.
• Wear gloves, bone-out the meat from the animal, and minimize handling of the brain and spinal cord tissues when field dressing an animal.

Is CWD transmissible to domestic livestock?

According to experts, there’s no evidence that CWD can be naturally transmitted to domestic livestock. Chronic wasting disease is similar in some respects to two known livestock diseases:

• Scrapie, which affects domestic sheep and goats worldwide and has been recognized for over 200 years; and
• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), which is a more recent disease of cattle in Great Britain and Europe. BSE has been found in Canada, and in the United States.

Though there are similarities, there is no evidence suggesting either scrapie or BSE is caused by contact or close association with wild deer or elk.

Latest CWD testing results

In the South Dakota CWD Surveillance period of July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, a total of 522 samples have been collected for CWD surveillance.

Breakdown of the sampling is as follows:

• 384 elk sampled-- 368 results returned as Not Positive--(16 POSITIVE ELK FOUND)
• 56 mule deer sampled-- 56 results returned as Not Positive--(0 POSITIVE MD FOUND)
• 82 white-tailed deer-- 77 results returned as Not Positive--(5 POSITIVE WT FOUND)

Below is a listing of the positive deer and elk that have been found in South Dakota during the surveillance period of July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. 

• Elk female from WICA in Custer County.(Sick/Surv)
• Elk male from Unit H3A in Custer County. (Sick/Surv)
• Elk male from Unit H4A in Custer County. (Hunter Harvest)
• Elk female from CSP in Custer County.  (Hunter Harvest)
• Elk female from CSP in Custer County.  (Hunter Harvest)
• Elk male from CSP in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk female from CSP in Custer County.  (Hunter Harvest)
• Elk female from Unit H3E in Fall River County.  (Hunter Harvest)
• Elk male from WICA in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk male from WICA in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk female from WICA in Custer County.  (Capture Myopathy)
• WT male from Unit 21A in Pennington County.  (Hunter Harvest)
• WT male from Unit 27B in Fall River County.  (Hunter Harvest)
• WT male from Unit 27B in Fall River County.  (Hunter Harvest)
• WT female from Unit 21B in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk female from Unit H4A in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk male from WICA in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk female from WICA in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk female from WICA in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• Elk male from Unit H3A in Custer County.  (Sick/Surv)
• WT male from Unit BH1 in Pennington County.  (Sick/Surv)

Additionally, 34 positive elk were found during the Wind Cave Elk reduction program from November 2016 through early March 2017in which 262 elk were removed.

What should you do if you suspect a deer or elk has CWD?

Call GFP at 605.394.2391 (Rapid City) or 605.773.3381 (Pierre) or the Animal Industry Board at 605.773.3321 (Pierre). Arrangements will be made to investigate the report.

What is being done about CWD in South Dakota?

Eliminating CWD is difficult, given the limited understanding of its cause and transmission and the lack of any vaccine or treatment.

The Animal Industry Board established specific requirements after CWD was first diagnosed in private, captive elk herds to prevent further introductions or recurrences in private, captive elk and deer herds. All captive herds that were infected or exposed have been depopulated, and a voluntary cervidae (deer and elk) CWD surveillance and control program for captive cervids is now being implemented.

Joint management strategies for CWD have been aimed at intensified surveillance to determine to what degree CWD occurs in free-roaming animals. GFP, in cooperation with South Dakota State University and Wind Cave National Park, tested hunter-harvested animals, vehicle killed animals, sick animals, and research animals starting in 1997. Emphasis has been placed on testing elk and deer from areas near previously quarantined CWD private elk herd sites, areas where CWD has been found in wild animals, and sick animals from anywhere in South Dakota.

Animals tested from 1997-2017 by GFP and Wind Cave National Park consisted of 6,893 elk, 6,107 mule deer and 13,318 white-tailed deer and 2 moose.Three hundred and sixty animals (191 deer, 169 elk) tested positive for CWD during this time period.

Animals tested from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 by GFP and Wind Cave National Park consisted of 646 elk, 56 mule deer, and 82 white-tailed deer. Fifty-five animals tested positive for CWD during this CWD surveillance period. Five deer and 9 elk were found by South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks that tested positive for CWD. Wind Cave National Park found 41 elk that tested positive for CWD.

As of June 30, 2016, a total of 26,318 wild deer and elk have been tested for CWD in South Dakota and 169 elk and 191 deer have been found to have the disease. All CWD detected to-date in free-roaming wildlife has been in southwestern South Dakota and includes Lawrence County, Pennington County, Fall River County, and Custer County, Wind Cave National Park, and Custer State Park. Sick deer from several areas of the state are being tested as part of our CWD Surveillance Program, and no CWD has been found in other areas in South Dakota. 

South Dakota agencies, in cooperation with citizens of the state, will continue to keep a close watch for the disease and determine its distribution and prevalence. This program will incorporate testing of hunter-harvested deer and elk, as well as sick deer and elk that are found and reported to GFP. The AIB will continue its CWD control and monitoring program involving private, captive elk and deer herds.

EHD is a disease that mainly affects white-tailed deer in the United States. This disease is caused by a virus that is spread by a biting midge. The disease usually affects deer herds in South Dakota in the late summer or early fall. Most refer to this disease as bluetongue and although they are very similar, they are slightly different viruses.

EHD can affect mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk and pronghorn in South Dakota, but it primarily impacts white-tailed deer. EHD is the most common occurring viral disease of white-tailed deer in the United States. The southeastern portion of the United States has EHD outbreaks every year with relatively few losses of animals. In the northern plains, we usually see minor disease losses, but some years, losses can be significant.

If you find evidence of EHD, please contact your local Conservation Officer.

Map of Report EHD below.
DISCLAIMER - This map represents the number of dead deer reported from concerned landowners, sportsmen, and GFP personnel. Each mapped area may represent more than one reported dead deer. Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) virus has presumably caused all of these deer losses, and EHD has been confirmed by laboratory analysis in most areas with high numbers of reports. This information should be considered a minimum coverage of deer losses because detection and reporting rates of dead deer vary by geographical area and are less than 100%. Variations of EHD prevalence exist at the county level and hunters are encouraged to contact local landowners to determine if deer losses have occurred in areas they hunt.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease that affects hibernating bats in eastern North America. It is widely thought to be caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). In February of 2006, a photograph of hibernating bats with strange white fuzz became the first token piece of evidence of a disease that has killed over 5 million bats. Much has been learned about Pd and the disease since its discovery, but even more remains a mystery.

Originally described as Geomyces destructans, this cold-loving fungus causes a skin infection and looks like white fuzz on the nose, ears, and membranes of the wings and tail of infected bats. Pd is found in cold and humid (>90%) environments, growing within a temperature range of 40-68 F making caves and mines ideal environments for this fungus.

More information

For any of the following diseases please visit Center for Diease Control and Prevention.

• Hantavirus
• Lyme Disease
• Plague
• Rabies
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
• Tularemia
• West Nile Virus