Thousands of Minnesota deer hunters are heading to their favorite spots this weekend. We wish them the best of luck. It's a tradition we were raised in as both my parents and their many male siblings hunted, though Mom was the only woman in that generation I remember hunting.
As one might expect, stories about Chronic Wasting Disease are in the news. For Minnesota Public Radio, Dan Gunderson reported New chronic wasting disease test: Game-changer or unproven?. One of the things that struck me about the story was that state representatives on the Minnesota House Environmental and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee--from chair Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul and Minority Lead Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, have held a reliable, quick live-test as the gold standard for fighting CWD.
When a chronic wasting disease (CWD) outbreak in a herd of captive deer in Beltrami County was discovered earlier this year, it was the result of investigators tracing a connection to potentially infected animals moved there from a Winona County farm.
That's often the case with CWD outbreaks — investigators tracing the movement of infected animals after the fact.
Chronic wasting disease is an always fatal neurodegenerative disease spread by malformed proteins, called prions, which are spread by infected animals.
When a chronic wasting disease (CWD) outbreak in a herd of captive deer in Beltrami County was discovered earlier this year, it was the result of investigators tracing a connection to potentially infected animals moved there from a Winona County farm.
That's often the case with CWD outbreaks — investigators tracing the movement of infected animals after the fact.
Chronic wasting disease is an always fatal neurodegenerative disease spread by malformed proteins, called prions, which are spread by infected animals.
"I think options for testing live animals would be a game-changer,” said Linda Glaser who runs the farmed cervidae program for the Board of Animal Health. . . .
"If we can test healthy, live animals, and potentially repeat that testing to monitor those animals over time, that would be a great benefit to detecting the disease," said Glaser.
Live tests available, but held up
There is a test for live animals, but there’s a dispute over whether it’s ready for deployment as a diagnostic tool.
The testing method has been around for more than a decade and is used to detect some human neurodegenerative diseases. It’s called RT-QuIC (real-time quaking-induced conversion).
The technology could be used to test animals before they are moved from one farm to another “to understand whether or not these animals are positive for CWD," said Peter Larsen, who leads a CWD research initiative at the University of Minnesota.
The test is more sensitive than the current methods being used, Larsen said, and works on a variety of materials from animal tissue to soil infected with prions.
Researchers have used the test to accurately detect chronic wasting disease in blood and fecal matter.
"So that would prevent situations like the Beltrami County case from happening, and ultimately, that would save the state millions and millions of dollars over time," said Larsen.
U of M researchers sampled bones, soil and plants at a Beltrami County site where CWD-infected deer carcasses were dumped by a farmer. They found CWD prions in all of those materials. Prions can remain infectious in the environment for years, but it’s unclear how easily they transfer from the environment to live wild animals.
Newest test is field-deployable
Over the past year, U researchers finalized a version of the test called MN-QuIC that can be used in the field without sending samples to a lab.
The portable test idea got its start about a year ago, when a student working in the lab observed that prion proteins interacted with nanoparticles.
“The solution turned red for [a] positive sample, and it was blue or purple for a negative sample,” said Larsen. “And so when we had that discovery, we knew it was important, because that put us on a path to field-deployable CWD diagnostics.”
The new field test would be cheaper and faster, he said, and makes Minnesota a leader in CWD testing technology.
In March of this year, the test was used in southeastern Minnesota — the first time a CWD test was used in the field and returned results within 24 hours, said Larsen.
But the Board of Animal Health has no immediate plans to use the test on live animals because it doesn't meet standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA coordinates with state agencies to encourage cervid owners to comply with certification program standards.
"This [RT-QuIC test] has not been validated for use in a diagnostic sort of situation,” said Glaser. “So in other words, it would have to be validated and approved by USDA to use it for that routine surveillance. And that hasn't happened yet."
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is taking the same position.
"There will be benefits of this RT-QuIC testing method. But we as an agency won't be using that until the USDA does validate that test," said wildlife health specialist Erik Hildebrand.
The USDA did not respond to questions about the test validation process or timeline.
Test delay frustrates some
State regulators' decision not to use the test at this time doesn't sit well with some lawmakers.
"I don't think we can wait two or three or four or five years for validation," said Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, who chairs the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee.
Hansen wants all captive cervids tested using the RT-QuIC method. He says that would provide a good assessment of the risk of CWD spreading from farmed deer to wild white-tailed deer.
Hansen says state agencies have the authority to use the test, even if it's not validated.
The language in the Board of Animal Health rules regarding testing states reads: “Other testing protocols may be used if they are approved by the board and are equally effective for the detection of CWD in farmed cervidae herds.”
Glaser argues that until the test is validated, its effectiveness is uncertain.
Larsen says he is confident the test is very effective on blood samples and tissue.
Hansen believes the test can be an early warning, preventing farmed deer from spreading CWD.
"We should use [RT-QuIC] as an indicator, and if it indicates that there's a positive, then you can follow up with a post-mortem test, if you cull that animal,” said Hansen. “I think that's a reasonable precaution to take."
Doing that testing on the approximately 8,000 farmed cervids in Minnesota would require an investment in lab equipment and training, since the state doesn't currently have a lab set up to do large-scale RT-QuIC testing.
Researchers in other states, including Wisconsin, are working to validate the RT-QuIC test, and Peter Larsen sees multiple labs focusing research on the test as concerns about CWD grow nationally.
"It's the negative impact on multiple economic sectors, and it's for protecting the heritage of deer. This is why we must improve CWD diagnostics," said Larsen.
It's no secret we're big fans of Larsen here at Bluestem. We're equally impressed that the portable test is in large part the result of a student's observation. That's some fine teaching.
At the Star Tribune, Tony Kennedy reports in Deer hunters crucial to Minnesota's fight against chronic wasting disease:
Minnesota deer hunters will provide crucial data to wildlife biologists this weekend in what will be the largest sampling effort yet in the state's fight against the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD).
"We need help from hunters,'' said Erik Hildebrand, wildlife health specialist for the Department of Natural Resources. "It's the only way to get a handle on the problem.''
In 30 out of 130 deer permit areas around the state, CWD testing will be mandatory Saturday and Sunday for all deer age one or older. The requirement should produce about 22,000 samples from six zones — far more testing than last year and enough to further measure the prevalence and whereabouts of a contagious animal disease that darkens the future of deer hunting.
New this year is a regional CWD surveillance zone centered around a defunct deer farm northeast of Bemidji. The case set off alarms this year when state officials detected the disease inside the farmer's fence and later discovered that the farm illegally dumped infected deer remains on nearby public land. The blatant biohazard for wild deer is now enclosed by a $200,000 fence paid for by taxpayers
Because there's no sanctioned way to test live deer for CWD, this weekend's sampling of hunter-harvested whitetails will examine for the first time whether the neurological disease likened to Mad Cow Disease has spilled into Beltrami County's woods and surrounding tribal land.
DNR Northwest Region Wildlife Manager Blane Klemek said this weekend's hunt should bring in approximately 1,800 deer from four permit areas stretching from near Lake Itasca in the southwest to Big Fork in the northeast. The zone includes land east of Upper Red Lake and within the Leech Lake Reservation boundary.
Half of Minnesota's annual deer harvest occurs over the opening weekend of the firearms season. Mandating tests on those two days is the surest way to determine whether wild deer in the corresponding areas have become infected, Klemek said.
"Statistics tell us that a sample size of this amount gives us a high probability of detecting the disease,'' he said.
Staffing 56 % of the sampling stations also will allow the DNR to educate hunters about CWD's threat to deer health, human health and explain the state's plan to slow it down. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people not to eat meat from deer or elk that look sick or test positive for CWD. In areas where CWD has been detected, the federal agency also advises hunters to wear gloves when field-dressing carcasses, bone out the meat, and minimize handling of brain and spinal cord tissues. That's where infectious prions are most likely to reside.
Read the rest at the Star Tribune.
Photo: A wild white-tailed buck.
Related posts:
- MN DNR: CWD suspected in a wild deer harvested along northwestern MN border
- Minnesota Chronic Wasting Disease news digest: upcoming firearms hunt spurs coverage
- Watch MNHouse Environment Committee hearing on CWD, EAB & local government water grants
- DNR: Chronic wasting disease testing is mandatory for MN deer opener in CWD zones
- CWD: Outdoors writer bags skinny doe, responds to American Cervid Alliance guy's letter
- State rep Tim Miller: MN state public officials beholden to radical anti-livestock enviro groups
- MN Deer Farmers Association sends House environmental committee chair a letter
- DNR temporarily bans farmed deer movement into & within MN to protect wild white-tailed deer
- CWD update: DNR Commissioner's letter to BAH Director on regulation to protect state's wild deer
- Bemidji Pioneer: Must-read article on illegal dumped CWD deer remains in Beltrami County
- Statement: Minnesota DNR learns of 2 deer farms that received deer from CWD+ farm in Wisconsin
- Hunters, tribes, conservation groups and St. Louis County call on state to get rid of deer farms
- Tune in to House Enviro Committee hearing tomorrow morning for latest CWD information
- MN DNR press release: Return to mandatory testing in chronic wasting disease zones this season
- South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks: CWD detected in mule deer in new area, Perkins County
- UMN MNPRO’s latest research detects CWD prions in cervid muscles using RT-QuIC
- MNReformer Radio podcast interviews Jamie Becker-Finn on Chronic Wasting Disease politics
- Listen to MN House environment committee chair Rep. Rick Hansen talk CWD on Matt McNeil Show
- Special Board of Animal Health meeting to review farmed Cervidae rulemaking postponed
- Bad news from the North: CWD sweeps through Alberta & Saskatchewan deer & elk herds
- Forum News Service: MN Deerhunters Association wants to end deer farming
- Just in: House DFL Lawmakers urge resignation of Minnesota Board of Animal Health President
- Star Tribune: Deer farming and "CWD-infested dump site on public land" in Beltrami County
- Are deer farmers posing against MN DNR rule pausing movement of captive whitetails?
- MN DNR temporarily bans movement of farmed whitetails in state to protect wild deer health
- 5 more MN deer farm herds exposed to CWD; Beltrami carcass dump site inquiry continues
- News release: U of M testing finds presence of CWD prions at Beltrami Co. carcass dump site
- BAH: Southern Minnesota CWD investigation identifies new infection in Beltrami County
- Concerned about CWD in MN deer? Learn about new research from MNPRO's Peter Larsen
- Some of the science at the center of Update on Chronic Wasting Disease Efforts hearing
- VIDEO: MNHouse passes bill for process to extend funding for ENRTF projects for one year
- Session Daily: Experts want to study how CWD flows in state's waterways
- Sen. Andrew Lang seems behind the curve on current funding & progress of CWD test research
- VIDEO: University of Minnesota scientists share CWD research, search for test with lawmakers
- Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund plan from U of M for CWD diagnostic test
- Peter Larsen slideshow: Development of Advanced Diagnostic Tests for CWD by U of M
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