A herd of deer in Crow Wing County killed to study MDC



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CROW WING COUNTY, MN – Authorities killed the entire herd on a deer farm in Crow Wing County, hoping to study a deadly disease.

According to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, the flock, located near Brainerd, was first infected with chronic wasting disease in 2016. Then, in February, another wild deer carcass found nearby was also tested. positive.

The death of the flock allows researchers to collect brain stems and lymph nodes, two parts of the body they need to test the MDC. They hope to have the results in a few weeks.

"At this stage, the positive results of CWD do not alter our response to the disease because we already know that the site contains deer that are positive for CWD and treat them as such," said Dr. Linda Glaser, Assistant Director. of the Animal Health Council.

From this depopulation, all deer farms with a positive DPC in the state are empty.

MDC is a disease of the deer and elk family caused by an abnormally shaped protein, a prion, that can damage the brain and nerve tissue.

The disease is probably transmitted when infected deer and elk excrete prions in saliva, stool, urine and other fluids or tissues.

MDC is not known to occur naturally in other animals. The disease is fatal in deer and elk, and there is no known treatment or vaccine. Consuming infected meat is not advisable.

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