CWD found in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County for the first time

Harrisburg — The Pennsylvania Game Commission, in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, recently announced two deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease in a new area of Pennsylvania.

The two deer, one hunter harvested and one from a captive facility, were detected in Luzerne County. Both deer were adult males.

The Luzerne County detections are 40 miles from the nearest wild CWD detection. They will ultimately result in disease management area changes later this spring – the details of which will be released following the Game Commission’s board of commissioners meeting in April.

The captive deer that tested positive for CWD Dec. 16 was from a breeding deer farm in Luzerne County. Initial positive test results from the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic System Laboratory were confirmed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, on Dec. 23.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture placed the farm under a quarantine order for five years. The order requires the farm to test any additional deer that die on the farm, and not transfer any deer on or off the farm.

Any subsequent positive test results will extend the quarantine order requirements and restrictions for another five years.

Pennsylvania deer farms must participate in one of two stringent programs – the Herd Certified Program, or the Herd Monitored Program. The Herd Certified Program meets U.S. Department of Agriculture CWD standards and is required for any cervid farmer wishing to ship deer across state lines.

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Both programs require record-keeping on all animals moved on or off farms; annual herd inventories; reporting of CWD suspect animals and animals that die, escape or are stolen; maintaining a minimum 8-foot-high fence; obtaining permits to import animals from out-of-state; and other measures to monitor herds for disease.

Only farms enrolled in the Herd Certified Program are permitted to move live deer across state lines, with official identification that will aid veterinarians in tracking disease origins in the event remaining deer die and test positive. 

Chronic wasting disease programs in captive deer are managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and are necessary to help slow the spread of the disease and allow these businesses to operate.

An always-fatal neurological disease caused by a misfolded protein called a prion, CWD is a threat to deer and elk. It’s classified as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and is similar to scrapie in sheep, mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

CWD spreads through direct animal-to-animal contact, as well as indirectly through prion-contaminated environments. CWD-infected individuals shed prions through saliva, urine and feces, and infected carcasses contribute to environmental contamination.

Once in the soil, CWD prions remain infectious for decades. Therefore, feeding deer is strongly discouraged and is illegal within existing disease management areas.

There is no evidence of CWD infecting humans or other species under natural conditions. However, much is still unknown about CWD, therefore the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends not eating the meat of a CWD-positive deer.

The Game Commission will host an informational meeting to answer any questions from the public. It is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Penn State Hazleton, Graham Building Room 115, Parking Lot F.

Penn State Hazleton Campus address is 76 University Drive, Hazleton.

Contact the Game Commission’s CWD Hotline at 1-833-INFOCWD, email INFOCWD@pa.gov or visit here for more information.