The state’s first case of chronic wasting disease has been confirmed in an adult female white-tailed deer found dead in the Fairwood area of north Spokane.
The disease infects members of the deer family and is fatal.
There is no cure for chronic wasting disease, and it can only be confirmed through testing of lymph nodes or brain tissue.
The lymph nodes of the deceased deer tested positive after being submitted to the Washington Animal Disease Laboratory at Washington State University in July.
The disease has been documented in wild or captive members of the deer family in 34 other states and four Canadian provinces.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife began testing for it in 1995.
Efforts were increased starting in 2021 in Eastern Washington due to its proximity to known cases in western Montana.
Fish and Wildlife has been preparing for the possibility of finding the disease in Washington.
Toward those means, it developed a Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan that will now guide a response in managing the spread of the disease.
Chronic wasting disease can be spread to deer, elk and moose. To see if it is spreading, Fish and Wildlife is preparing to collect tissue from such animals within the initial response area.
To date there are no confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease spreading from wildlife to domestic animals or from members of the deer family to other wild species.
There is also no evidence of it being transmitted to humans.
To minimize risk, however, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against consuming meat from an animal that has tested positive.
Testing of deer, elk, and moose will be critical this upcoming hunting season in order to detect additional cases and better understand the prevalence of the disease in the state.
Hunters will be notified about changes to testing and carcass transportation regulations.
