Chronic Wasting Disease
What is chronic wasting disease (CWD) and what does it have to do with ranched elk in Alberta?
Chronic wasting disease is a disease of the brain affecting mule deer and white-tailed deer and elk. It is a reportable disease in Canada under the Health of Animals Act. While it is not the same as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), it belongs to a related group of diseases caused by abnormal proteins called prions that accumulate in the brain of an infected animal.
Through a voluntary surveillance program, one case of CWD was detected in an Alberta domestic elk in 2002. Since then, the Alberta government has implemented its Mandatory CWD Surveillance Program.
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The Alberta Mandatory CWD Surveillance Program demands that every domestic elk in Alberta over the age of 12 months be tested for CWD when it dies, regardless of the cause.
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This program is a more comprehensive monitoring system than the one used for Canada’s beef cattle.
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Since 2002 there have been more than 20,000 Alberta domestic elk tested with the full cooperation and support of the Alberta Elk Commission and the producers it represents. The infection rate of CWD amongst farm elk is 0.045%.
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There is no evidence to suggest that CWD can affect humans.
