Ontario Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Program - Ministry of ...

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Figure 3. CWD sample distribution in southern and northwestern Ontario. The map only displays 7,222 sample locations of the 9,426 samples tested. an apparent lack of the midge (Culicoides variipennis sonorensis) that is the vector EHD) despite a severe outbreak in Michigan. In immediate neighbouring jurisdictions to Ontario recent CWD developments have been mostly positive. Minnesota discovered their first case of CWD in a wild deer in 2010 in the southeast part of the state and initiated an intense response action. Several thousand deer have since been tested for CWD in the area surrounding the 2010 case and all have tested negative for CWD to date. It appears the Minnesota response may be another successful example of vigorous surveillance, early detection and rapid response preventing further CWD spread. Both New York State and Michigan did not register any further cases of CWD in 2012 since their initial cases in 2005 and 2008 respectively. More concerning though was the recent announcement of three wild white-tailed deer diagnosed with CWD in Pennsylvania. These deer were sampled during the 2012 November deer hunt, and tested positive for CWD in March 2013. It could be speculated that these cases were the result of a northern spread of the disease from the established outbreak in West Virginia (centred less than 75km to the south). Two cases of CWD were also discovered in captive white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania in October of 2012, but these cases lie 120km to the east, across the north-south running Appalachian Mountains, which would likely be a hindrance to natural east-west deer movements. Alternatively human assisted movement of deer could have played a connective role between the two infections. The recent wild deer cases in Pennsylvania are within 300km of the Ontario border. Ontario’s Canadian neighbours (Quebec and Manitoba) continue to remain free from CWD detection. At a broader scale there appears to be two outbreaks of CWD in eastern North America. One large outbreak is in the Wisconsin-Illinois area that has persisted and grown since 2002 and may be responsible for the recent Minnesota case. This outbreak area is approximately 550 km west of the Ontario border at Windsor. The second, more recent outbreak area is in the West Virginia-Virginia- Maryland area. It is relatively smaller and less intense but is probably spreading. This outbreak area is centred approximately 400km southeast of the Ontario border at Niagara. Acknowledgements Crew leader: Mark Gibson Crew staff: Kim Bennett, Steve Bennett, Graham Branscombe, Sarah Hagey, Greg Hawes, Don, Little, Ben Maynard, Ashley McLaren, Larissa Nituch, Andrew Orton, Matt Purvis, Bev Stevenson, Val von Zuben, and Al Winters. Jennifer Wilson volunteered on the project and assisted with sample collection.
We would like to thank our 2012 depot locations for all assistance provided. Some of these private business have assisted the program in the past. Dave McLinchey, Farr Acres Enterprises, Les Drury, Roesch Meats and More, and Tony’s Meat Market all collected samples for us. Mapleton Taxidermy and Simon Taxidermy both went out of their way to assist and collected large numbers of samples. The staff at the Animal Health Lab in Guelph (Davor Ojkic, Jim Fairles, Jane Coventry, Keith Harron, Murray Hazlett) have processed all our samples over the past eleven years with rapid results and professional service. The staff at the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre in Guelph have performed post-mortem inspections on suspicious deer and coordinated CWD testing for these deer. Dr. Elliot Salsberg at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Brian Tapscott at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs have both lent support and advice particularly where the wild and captive cervid CWD surveillance programs overlap. Freya Long and Ryan Large from MNR’s Fish and Wildlife Services Branch were very helpful with communications, website updates, and the hunter information mail-out. Beth Brownson, Christie Curley and Chris Heydon from Biodiversity Branch have kept us up to date with CWD and deer policies and current events. MNR regional biologists Brad Allison, Colin Higgins, and Peter Davis provided regional expertise and advice. Bruce Head posted test results to the MNR website. Staff from the Aylmer District office assisted with logistics, local knowledge, and inquiries from the public and media. Special thanks to Pud Hunter, Sherry Pineo, Michal Nelson, Ben Hindmarsh, Ken Stemmler, and Brad Conner. MNR Wildlife Research and Development Section staff Kevin Middel and Val von Zuben created maps and maintained the databases for the program. Natalie Gorman organized advertising campaigns, media requests and internal communications and approvals. Dr. Chris Davies, Mark Gibson, Chris Heydon, Dr. Rick Rosatte, and Bev Stevenson reviewed this report. Dr. Chris Davies as manager and Dennis Donovan as coordinator of Wildlife Research and Development Section provide management support. Dr. Rick Rosatte is the CWD lead research scientist for Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and oversees the surveillance program.
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Ontario Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Program - Ministry of ...

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