WOOSTER, Ohio – When a single case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was detected in deer on a farm in Wayne County two weeks ago, not many red flags shown. Since then, a third case of CWD was detected on a third farm in northern Ohio. The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has decided not to release the names of the facilities, or their locations, until it wraps up the investigation.

The ODA has confirmed that the latest infected deer was not a whitetail deer, but a 6-year-old female mule deer that had been purchased from out of state. Mule deer are not native to Ohio, with their range in the western United States. The ODA also noted that there were 138 deer at this particular farm.

CWD is a degenerative brain disease that affects elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer.

ODA investigators are taking quarantine action with this herd to control the further spread of the disease and to make sure there is no evidence that CWD has affected the wild deer population in the state.

“While the confirmed cases are unfortunate, this proves the necessity of testing and monitoring the health of captive deer populations in Ohio in order to monitor the health of the animals and to manage exposure to diseases,” said State Veterinarian Dr. Tony Forshey. “ODA will work with our state partners and continue to take whatever steps necessary in order to manage CWD and prevent exposure to Ohio’s wild deer population.”

According to the ODA, a “herd plan has been drafted and the indemnity request has been submitted through USDA. Depopulation is pending the indemnity plan approval.” During the depopulation process, all deer will be checked for CWD.

The ODA will do tracing to determine at what other breeding facilities the mule deer may have been. Reportedly, it has been bought and sold numerous times. Officials will look into where other deer that may have come into contact with it have been shipped.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife is awaiting the results of the ODA’s investigation before making any plans to enact a Deer Surveillance Area (DSA) of a six-mile radius of the infected Wayne County farm. For the first two CWD cases at area deer farms, the Division of Wildlife mandated that any hunter who harvested a whitetail deer during the deer-gun season was required to take that deer to a collection center to have lymph nodes removed from the deer so they could be tested for CWD to make sure the disease had not jumped to the wild population.

Because parts of Wayne and Holmes counties have already been under a DSA for six years and no wild deer have tested positive (including road kill deer that were collected for testing), officials with the Division of Wildlife may be more lenient this time. But, if more deer in the current herd of 138 test positive for CWD, then officials may be forced to once again declare a DSA around the infected pen.

CWD can take up to a year before causing symptoms – including drastic weight loss and neurological issues – in animals. The disease is fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

There have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans, but researchers continue to study its transmission and suggest it is still important to prevent human exposure to the disease, the CDC said. CWD is deadly in deer, elk and moose.

According to ODA, CWD has never been found in Ohio’s wild deer herd population. There have been 21 cases of CWD involving three Ohio farms since 2015.This is the first time CWD has been detected in Wayne County, but it was previously found at two different facilities in Holmes County.

Anyone with questions or concerns regarding CWD is asked to contact the Division of Animal Health at 614-728-6220 or email animal@agri.ohio.gov.