Timberjack86
Senior Member
I wonder if CWD is ever found in all the states will these rules go away? We have the same rules in TN BTW. We are a CWD state.
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CWD bill passed in Georgia
- Thread starter lampern
- Start date
C.Killmaster
Georgia Deer Biologist
Yes, because you don't want it in all of your state but rather confined to a smaller area. Whole carcass transport will also be restricted within the state if CWD exists there.
Everyone really should go ahead and eliminate discarding carcass parts on the landscape that came from another area. Either leave it where you killed the deer or send it to the landfill.
Timberjack86
Senior Member
Thanks for the reply, on another forum we were having this discussion and the idea of predators and scavengers spreading it came up. Especially scavengers that fly. They could easily spread the prions all across the Southeast.
C.Killmaster
Georgia Deer Biologist
Yep, that's a possibility that's been discussed in the literature. We would already have everywhere if it spread like that i believe. Moving hay around, mud on truck tires, and migratory birds all have the potential to spread it but that doesn't appear to be happening. It has been proven to spread through live deer and moving carcass parts. Moving live deer is easiest way to spread it hands down. It appears likely that deer must be exposed to CWD several times before contracting it, so I think that's why some of these potential methods of spreading it don't really work.
Timberjack86
Senior Member
Ok I never looked at it that way. Thank you for taking the time to explain it!
buckpasser
Senior Member
Is it possible that the prions are not even necessarily the carrier, maybe just a marker? Also, what ever happened to the guy out of PA that claimed to have it all figured out and it was actually bacteria driven? It seems that story was supposed to break like a “Trump reinstated” story and never came to fruition???
C.Killmaster
Georgia Deer Biologist
There's no debate over that anymore these days. That guy came up with the spiroplasma bacteria theory back in the 70's or 80's when there was still some debate about prions as a disease agent, but there have been tremendous scientific advancements since then that has proven that infectious proteins (prions) are the cause. He just won't let his idea go and he'll do a media campaign every several years like he's on the verge of solving CWD or other prion diseases. Here's a good read in response to his latest media blast, I know the author Dr. Schuler well and she is a highly respected CWD researcher.
https://cwhl.vet.cornell.edu/article/prion-hypothesis-cwd-examination-evidence
Also, one of the newest tests for CWD that can detect minute amounts of the prion, RT-QuIC (real-time quaking-induced conversion), wouldn't work if they were just a marker for another disease agent.
cowhornedspike
Senior Member
Are we at the point where a live deer can be tested...and if not then why not?
C.Killmaster
Georgia Deer Biologist
Yes and no. There is a rectal or tonsil biopsy test that is being used in the captive industry using the RT-QuIC I mentioned above, but because of the way the disease slowly progresses it has a lot of false negatives (i.e. the deer could have CWD but the test doesn't pick it up). Even the current tests we use for dead deer used to definitively confirm CWD where we remove the lymph nodes from the neck only give us a result of "positive" or "not detected".
The way those test are being used for live deer most effectively is to test them, wait 3 months, and then test them again. Given the fact that you have to sedate the animal to collect either a tonsil or rectal biopsy it's a difficult and expensive task. Prion diseases are so different than a bacteria or virus that it could be a very long time before technology like the at home Covid tests would be a reality for CWD. It's more like a transmissible form of Alzheimer's disease than a virus or bacteria.
