The Province has confirmed the fourth case of chronic wasting disease in British Columbia.
Chronic wasting disease is an infectious and fatal disease affecting species in the cervid family, including deer, elk, moose, and caribou.
The first two cases in B.C. were confirmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in January. The third was confirmed in November. These cases included a hunter-harvested mule deer and two white-tailed deer, one of which was killed in a road accident and the other was harvested by a hunter. All three were collected near Cranbrook.
The latest confirmed case was collected from a white-tailed deer harvested in October, also in the Cranbrook region.
More than 3,000 samples have been collected from the Kootenay region with only four cases of chronic wasting disease to date, which indicates a low disease prevalence.
Further, there is no direct evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans and there have been no reports of cases of disease in humans, according to the Province.
However, to prevent potential risk of illness, Health Canada recommends that people do not eat meat of an infected animal, as cooking temperatures cannot destroy the abnormal protein that causes the disease.
People are encouraged to keep submitting their deer, elk and moose samples to improve the information during the ongoing response. While most infected animals will not show any symptoms of the disease, if anyone sees any deer, elk, moose, or caribou exhibiting symptoms such as weight loss, drooling, poor co-ordination, stumbling, or acting generally sick, report it to the 24/7 Report All Poachers and Polluters Line at 1 877 952-7277 or the B.C. Wildlife Health Program.
Restrictions remain in place for the transport, testing and disposal of deer, elk, and moose carcasses.
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