Tom Morang
04-04-2002, 08:01 PM
Alberta hit with first case of CWD
this document web posted: April 4, 2002
By Karen Morrison
Saskatoon newsroom
Chronic wasting disease has been found in Alberta for the first time.
Ken Stepushyn of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the positive test for the fatal brain disorder came from an elk herd of between 50 and 100 head north of Edmonton. It is the 40th herd in Canada to be identified as having CWD.
The animal was discovered during a routine test in a meat processing plant near Lethbridge. The test is part of a CWD surveillance program that has been mandatory in Alberta since Jan. 1.
As of Feb. 1, CFIA had detected 227 positive cases of CWD in Saskatchewan elk and two cases in wild deer. About 7,800 elk have now been destroyed, along with deer, bison and cattle known to be grazing in the same areas as the infected elk.
Most animals that have tested positive have been traced back to one source, a Colorado-born elk sold to a Saskatchewan elk breeder by a South Dakota game farm. Investigations are under way on how the last two positive animals became infected.
"It's too early to say where it came from," Stepushyn said of the latest case.
The Alberta border has been closed to imports of elk since 1988.
Stepushyn said the meat plant has standard sanitation and cleaning protocols following slaughter that "should be quite adequate to ensure no transmission," adding elk heads are incinerated after test samples are taken.
Serge Buy, executive director of the Canadian Cervid Council, conceded this latest case is another setback for an industry that has seen falling prices and markets since the first CWD cases were discovered two years ago.
"It will have an effect and will create a little period of uncertainty," Buy said.
He credited the surveillance system in Alberta and other provinces with keeping the disease in check. It ensures the products can be consumed safely and that cervid products are CWD-free, he added.
Alberta has about 43,000 farmed elk, compared to 28,500 in Saskatchewan.
The remaining herd from which the CWD-infected elk originated is under quarantine until a decision is made on its fate. Complete herds were destroyed in the previous 39 cases. The most recent herd was destroyed in March near Prince Albert, Sask.
CWD is believed to be caused by an infectious particle called a prion. It is similar to scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cows and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
Research has not proven a link between variant CJD and BSE, although the most widely held scientific view is that people contracted CJD by eating BSE-infected beef. There is no evidence that suggests CWD can be transmitted in a similar fashion.
this document web posted: April 4, 2002
By Karen Morrison
Saskatoon newsroom
Chronic wasting disease has been found in Alberta for the first time.
Ken Stepushyn of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the positive test for the fatal brain disorder came from an elk herd of between 50 and 100 head north of Edmonton. It is the 40th herd in Canada to be identified as having CWD.
The animal was discovered during a routine test in a meat processing plant near Lethbridge. The test is part of a CWD surveillance program that has been mandatory in Alberta since Jan. 1.
As of Feb. 1, CFIA had detected 227 positive cases of CWD in Saskatchewan elk and two cases in wild deer. About 7,800 elk have now been destroyed, along with deer, bison and cattle known to be grazing in the same areas as the infected elk.
Most animals that have tested positive have been traced back to one source, a Colorado-born elk sold to a Saskatchewan elk breeder by a South Dakota game farm. Investigations are under way on how the last two positive animals became infected.
"It's too early to say where it came from," Stepushyn said of the latest case.
The Alberta border has been closed to imports of elk since 1988.
Stepushyn said the meat plant has standard sanitation and cleaning protocols following slaughter that "should be quite adequate to ensure no transmission," adding elk heads are incinerated after test samples are taken.
Serge Buy, executive director of the Canadian Cervid Council, conceded this latest case is another setback for an industry that has seen falling prices and markets since the first CWD cases were discovered two years ago.
"It will have an effect and will create a little period of uncertainty," Buy said.
He credited the surveillance system in Alberta and other provinces with keeping the disease in check. It ensures the products can be consumed safely and that cervid products are CWD-free, he added.
Alberta has about 43,000 farmed elk, compared to 28,500 in Saskatchewan.
The remaining herd from which the CWD-infected elk originated is under quarantine until a decision is made on its fate. Complete herds were destroyed in the previous 39 cases. The most recent herd was destroyed in March near Prince Albert, Sask.
CWD is believed to be caused by an infectious particle called a prion. It is similar to scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cows and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
Research has not proven a link between variant CJD and BSE, although the most widely held scientific view is that people contracted CJD by eating BSE-infected beef. There is no evidence that suggests CWD can be transmitted in a similar fashion.