Disease Management Areas (DMAs) for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) are projected to grow this year, with infections discovered in new areas of southeastern and western Pennsylvania.
Since 2012, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has annually tested deer for the lethal neurological illness. They evaluate deer heads donated by hunters in collecting bins, as well as deer picked up by the agency after being killed by cars.
Disease Management Areas have been established to track the location of positive cases, and they extend if a new case is discovered within 10 miles of the existing border.
While testing for this year is still in its early stages, the agency has discovered numerous deer with CWD that are straining the current DMA border boundaries.
“We had a detection on the northwest area of DMA 2 in Cambria County that will cause some changes there,” said Andrea Korman, Chronic Wasting Disease Section Supervisor for the Game Commission.
Disease Management Area (DMA) 2 in southcentral Pennsylvania may expand to the east after a positive case was discovered outside the boundary line in southern York County.
“We got a second detection in Armstrong County that was in DMA 3, which might create a shift. But we’ll assess everything at the conclusion of the seasons and make some recommendations,” she said.
With a fresh detection at the margin of DMA 2 near DMA 3, she believes the new boundary lines will intersect with these two DMAs.
The Game Commission’s staff and board of commissioners will analyze the results of the tests.
“Obviously, we’re in the middle of the season, nearing its finale. So we are not going to make any of those modifications right now,” she explained. “But those changes will probably be in place for next season.”
Hunters in DMAs must follow strict regulations while transporting harvested deer, and the general public is not permitted to feed deer.
A sample year runs from July 1 to June 30 of each year.
“If I look at that timeframe of July 1 to about the end of 2024, we’re pretty similar to where we were last year,” Korman told me. She believes that by the end of 2023, they will have received over 9,000 samples, with approximately 370 positives.
“It’s promising that that number at least isn’t higher right now than it was last year,” according to her. “However, some of those new detections have occurred in new areas, which means we are still seeing some spread of the disease.”
For the entire fiscal year 2023-24, the agency evaluated 10,826 samples and found 472 positive cases of CWD. Bedford County had the most, with 219, while Fulton had 131 CWD positive tests.
As of January 7, the agency’s CWD website reported 104 positives out of 6,263 testing.
“This time of year, those numbers change almost daily,” she added of the agency’s online CWD monitoring page. “We actually have probably over 10,000 samples right now with over 4,000 pending analysis.”
Positive detections yield preliminary results, which are subsequently retested for confirmation. The website only displays affirmative cases that have received the second confirmation.
“We actually have probably somewhere around 270 additional positives that are still waiting that additional confirmation testing,” she informed me.
Several DMAs have yet to report any positive cases this year. They are: DMA 4 in southern Pennsylvania, DMA 7 in northeastern Pennsylvania, DMA 5 in northern Pennsylvania, and DMA 6 in Central Pennsylvania.
“DMAs 4, 5, and 7 were all formed as a result of favorable findings in captive facilities (fenced-in deer farms).
So it’s good that we haven’t had any new detections in free-ranging populations, though we will continue to monitor those locations,” she said. “It’s still important to get your deer tested because we want to make sure (CWD) didn’t get outside the fence.”
Why test your deer for CWD?
Korman said hunters in Disease Management Areas should have their deer tested for a variety of reasons.
“This isn’t simply information for us. While it is important for us to know what is going on in that area, we also want to ensure that hunters make informed judgments about eating venison,” Korman explained.
Since 2012, when CWD was initially detected in Adams, Blair, and Bedford counties, the EPA said 1,998 deer out of 109,992 samples have tested positive.
The disease is most prevalent in Wildlife Management Unit 4A, which covers the Bedford/Fulton/Huntington area.
“Based on what we had in that area last year, more than one in every three deer harvested (and submitted for testing) tested positive. So we strongly encourage individuals to continue experimenting in that area,” she explained. “Our testing is not a food safety test but it helps you make a better decision about consuming venison.”
The Game Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both advise consumers not to eat meat from CWD-positive animals.
The disease can spread to other types of deer, including elk, however no elk have tested positive for CWD in Pennsylvania.
“The only way to know for sure if a deer has CWD, is to get it tested,” according to Korman. A healthy-looking deer may carry CWD but show no signs of illness. “There are obviously clinical indicators to look for, but they might be anything. If you notice a lean deer, it could have CWD, have been injured by a car, or have another condition. So you need to have it tested.
Hunters are notified of favorable results via letter, and the results are posted on the agency website.
If a hunter has not received their findings within two weeks, she urges them to contact the agency’s CWD hotline at 833-463-6293.
If someone observes a sick deer, Korman recommended that they contact the agency to have someone come out and take care of it.
Several deer shooting seasons are still ongoing. The statewide flintlock muzzleloader and archery seasons will finish on January 20. They both run through January 25 in Wildlife Management Units 2B, 5C, and 5D.
Antlerless rifle seasons are extended in WMUs 2B, 4C, and 5D until January 25, and in WMUs 4A, 4D, and 5A until January 20.