MDC reports halfway mark on results of deer samples being tested for CWD

[MOPanfisher]

The agent responsible for CWD (and other TSEs, such as scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is PRNP which is highly conserved among mammals and has been found and sequenced in deer. It is a prion, an abnormal form of a normal protein, known as prion protein (PrP), most commonly found in the central nervous system (CNS), and is capable of spreading to the peripheral nervous system (PNS), thus infecting meat, or muscle, of deer and elk. The abnormal PrP infects the host animal by promoting conversion of normal cellular prion protein (PrP^C) to the abnormal prion form (PrP^res or PrP^d). The build-up of PrP^d in the brain is associated with widespread 

[fishinwrench]

Is it not obvious that they prefer we do not understand it ?

[Haris122]

I think this last season they've actually have done more to encourage thinning the population wrench, at least where I hunt, than they did in the past.

Franklin, Jefferson, and Washington (where I hunted), none of those counties used to be open for antlerless season in the past. What's more, in both those counties and in ones that were always open for antlerless season, very little public land used to be open for antlerless season. If you didn't hunt private land one way or the other, antlerless season was non-existent. This year they actually had some conservation areas open for it. And I think all of the conservation areas around here, that used to be 4 point bucks only, were opened up to any-deer hunting. I'm personally suspecting they're trying to thin out the population to slow down how fast cwd expands it's range, while they probably try to figure out a better solution to the problem, if there is one. And keep in mind, a lot of this they're doing to the displeasure of deer hunters that want to have more deer, and bigger deer to hunt.

[Johnsfolly]

The main problem with CWD is that the prion proteins are much more persistent in the environment than a virus or bacterial infectious agent. Which means that if there is a bunch of deer in an area that have the disease then they will potentially infect that area for a long time. So you need as much information on how many deer may carry the disease and where they are located to understand the scale of the infection.

The last ten years with the unlimited doe permits throughout most state counties was done to drop the overall deer population. That was fairly successful and they started reducing the number of doe tags allowed in counties where deer mumbers were closer ti their targets. Then the outbreaks of bluetongue and EHD forced the MDC to cut back even more on the numbers of doe permits purchased to prevent potential overharvest. What is happening around here is that deer on public lands are being controlled but around the suburbs and outskirt areas where there is limited or no hunting the deer are abundant. In Columbia the city park hunting program is not that effective due to a mindset on trophy hunting and not animal control. So too few deer and does in particular are actually being harvested to control the population.

[Jerry Rapp]

I still don't know what CWD?  If someone can explain in plain English, please do?  And what is the cure, in plain English.  Has CWD been around forever?  Did the pioneers and native Americans eat deer with CWD?

[Chief Grey Bear]

It's a disease

No known cure

Doubtful

[Jerry Rapp]

if it is a disease, what causes it?

[Chief Grey Bear]

What's the color of black when black is burnt?

[fishinwrench]

34 minutes ago, Chief Grey Bear said:

What's the color of black when black is burnt?

Red, orange, or white, depending on the temperature of it.  ?

[MOPanfisher]

The base cause is exposure to infected tissue, primarily brain or spinal cord tissue.  However since the prions that are the infective agent last for many years and the body/carcass of an infected deer breaks down the prions are released into the environment and survive extremely well.  Unlikely that CWD has "been around forever" in the form we know it.