skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, February 17, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

At Least 11 Dead After Severe Flooding Sweeps The South; Hundreds Of Thousands Without Power; Abandoned Mine Land program frozen as Appalachia faces severe flooding; Solar power gives MN resort new blood, new life.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Top Trump officials set to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia over the Ukraine war. The GOP budget resolution is at risk as moderates weigh out consequences. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he's "going nowhere."

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural America struggles with opioids and homelessness in unexpected ways, Colorado's Lariat Ditch could help spur local recreation, and book deliveries revive rural communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

Ticks Can Carry Infectious Levels of Chronic Wasting Disease

play audio
Play

Monday, June 26, 2023   

Scientists are gaining ground in the race to understand what is causing the spread of chronic wasting disease, or CWD, in deer and elk.

Stuart Lichtenberg - research scientist at the University of Minnesota and co-author of a new University of Wisconsin at Madison-led report - said the team wanted to find out if deer ticks that were found on white tail deer killed by hunters carried prions, the misfolded proteins that spread the disease.

"We were actually able to detect what we called 'transmission relevant doses' of CWD prions," said Lichtenberg. "That is to say that there is enough prions present in those ticks that it could cause disease in an animal that is susceptible to CWD."

Lichtenberg warned that scientists still do not completely understand how CWD spreads, but this new research shows potential options for mitigating transmission if ticks are in fact a major contributor.

Chronic wasting disease has been found in 30 U.S. states including Wyoming, and four Canadian provinces.

It was first identified in 1985 in southeastern Wyoming mule deer, in elk the following year, and has since spread to the majority of the state.

Lichtenberg said while there are concerns that CWD could spread to humans, there is no solid evidence showing the neurological disease can or will do so.

"It's essentially the same thing as mad cow disease from the early 90's," said Lichtenberg. "But it takes place in white tail deer, mule deer, elk. It is inevitably fatal, and untreatable."

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department offers hunters a wide range of options for testing their harvest for CWD.

Lichtenberg said this is an important step hunters can take every year to protect themselves, their families and Wyoming's iconic big game.

"It gives them the peace of mind that their harvest is safe," said Lichtenberg. "But it also provides a lot of useful information for those departments of natural resources that they can then use to make management decisions based upon what hunters are seeing out in the wild."





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Data from Penn Medicine finds as of January 2024, more than 30,000 people in the U.S. have received CAR T-cell therapy since it was approved for use in 2017. (Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Some New York doctors are working on new ways to treat advanced cancers. Chimeric Antigen Receptor, or CAR, T-cell therapy treats certain blood …


Health and Wellness

play sound

The incidence of drug overdose is decreasing in Indiana and one reason could be the efforts of an organization offering free training to anyone willin…

Social Issues

play sound

By Kim Kobersmith for The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Brett Peveto for South Carolina News Service for the Daily Yonder-Public News Service Coll…


More than 48% of Wyoming is public land, owned and managed by the federal government on behalf of U.S. residents. Several state bills this session were written to try to decrease the percentage. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Wyoming is one of several Western states where some lawmakers arguing states should have more control of the federally managed public lands within the…

Environment

play sound

By S.E. Smith for Yes! Magazine.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Yes! Magazine-Public News Service …

A home burns in a Los Angeles neighborhood during recent wind-driven wildfires spreading throughout several Southern California communities. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

By Amy McDermott for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for for California News Service reporting…

Social Issues

play sound

February is Library Lovers Month - and libraries across the Commonwealth are encouraging their long-time and new patrons to celebrate. Lisa Varga…

Social Issues

play sound

According to the Immigration Policy Tracking Project, the Trump administration has taken 130 actions on immigration so far this term. Groups in …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021