By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Chronic wasting disease (CWD) – a prion disease that causes brain and nerve issues – has been identified in a single reindeer in northern Illinois, the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) announced this month.

A necropsy on the dead cervid confirmed CWD, which produces symptoms that include weight loss, stumbling, excessive thirst, drooling and listlessness. The deer was part of a captive herd, according to the IDOA.

Prior to the diagnosis, CWD had been detected in only one other reindeer herd — a free-ranging group in Norway in 2016. The diagnosis represents the first known confirmation of CWD in a reindeer in North America, perhaps putting an end to the debate over the susceptibility of reindeer to CWD.

The captive Illinois herd was placed under quarantine for observation following the confirmation of CWD, and is being managed by the IDOA, USDA Veterinary Service and the herd’s owner. There is no evidence of CWD being infectious to humans and it does not appear to affect cattle or domesticated animals, an IDOA newsrelease stated.

The affected reindeer was necropsied April 23 after its sudden death, with confirmation of CWD made by the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, on May 9. The Wisconsin Veterinary Services Laboratory handled initial tissue testing from the animal.

With no USDA-approved live animal test available to determine if a cervid has CWD, the only definitive method for testing is through post-mortem tissue sampling, according to the IDOA.

A 2009 report issued by the OLR said researchers had believed reindeer would be susceptible to CWD because of their genetic similarity to other cervids that contract the disease, though no definitive answer seemed to be revealed prior to the 2018 Illinois confirmation. 

“At least on a genetic basis, there’s no scientific reason why reindeer would not be susceptible to CWD,” said Bryan Richards, CWD project leader for the U.S. Geological Service’s National Wildlife Health Center, in 2009.

As of March 27, CWD in free-ranging deer, elk and-or moose had been reported in at least 23 states, as well as two Canadian provinces, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC). CWD was first identified in captive deer in Colorado in the 1960s, and in wild deer in 1981. The rate of infection among captive deer can be much higher than in the wild, with rates approaching 80 percent in some captive herds.

In Farm World’s readership area, CWD has been confirmed in four Michigan counties and was discovered in a captive deer herd in Ohio in 2015. Zero cases have been confirmed in Indiana or Kentucky. CWD had been confirmed in 16 Illinois counties as of March 27, the CDC reported, but the presence of the prion in a captive reindeer is a first for the state and the country.