11 new cases of deer disease listed in Missouri

The concern over the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) — a fatal, contagious disease that preys on deer — continues in Missouri.

Eleven new cases of CWD have been found in deer shot in Macon, Adair and Cole counties, the Missouri Department of Conservation announced Tuesday afternoon. The new discoveries bring the total of free-ranging deer found with the disease to 14 for the past hunting season and 24 since CWD was first found in the state in 2010 at a private hunting preserve in Linn County.

Eleven captive deer in Macon and Linn counties also have been found with the disease since that time.

Especially troublesome to wildlife officials is that the latest batch of testing results included a buck deer taken in Cole County, the first deer that tested positive out of the Department of Conservation’s CWD Containment Zone — Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph and Sullivan counties. In that zone, regulations and culls have taken place in an effort to control the spread of the disease.

The Department of Conservation has collected more than 43,000 samples from deer taken by hunters since 2001. More than 3,400 tissue samples were from harvested and other free-ranging deer this season.

More bad news could be on the way. About 330 tissues samples are still being tested by an independent laboratory.

“We will continue to monitor the spread of the disease this fall and winter,” wildlife biologist Jason Sumners said in a news release. “We are also updating our efforts to help contain the spread of the disease and will be working out the details over this spring and summer.”

Brent Frazee, bfrazee@kcstar.com.

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 7:29 PM with the headline "11 new cases of deer disease listed in Missouri."