CWD could threaten Md.and W.Va. deer

BALTIMORE, Sep 08, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A fatal animal disease that has forced the slaughter of thousands of U.S. deer and elk may have spread into western Maryland.

State biologists met Wednesday to discuss reports that chronic wasting disease was found in a 2 1/2 -year-old buck near Slanesville, W.Va., located near Maryland's Allegany County, the Baltimore Sun reported Thursday. It was the first CWD case in the region.

Paul Peditto, director of the Wildlife and Heritage Service of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, told the newspaper biologists are waiting for West Virginia to complete its testing to determine the extent of the problem.

Chronic wasting disease was first identified in Colorado in 1967. It is a neurological infection similar to mad cow disease in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, the Sun reported. Infected animals stagger, slobber and gradually lose the ability to keep themselves alive.

Federal officials say there is no evidence it can affect humans, but they advise against eating meat from infected animals.