According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, on Friday afternoon, Fisheries, and Parks declared that a second deer test performed for the chronic wasting disease. Its result has come out to be positive.
As per the department on October 8, the sample of positivity arose from a 1.5 years aged buck situated in. In order to run the sample for an additional definitive test, it would be sent to Iowa, the National Veterinary Sciences Laboratory.
In January and in Mississippi, the very first case of CWD was found. After, when a hunter saw a scraggy buck dying due to sickness. Then it was reported to MDWFP and upon performing two tests, it was affirmed that the buck was CWD-positive.
Just a few details are shared regarding the results of the recently done tests. This even made the hunters wondering on social media regarding the conditions surrounding the detection. The information about death cause or whether it was a free-ranging deer or limited in an enclosure has not been provided yet.
Chronic Wasting Disease refers to a neurological ailment and is found out to be 100 percent injurious for other Cervidae family members like elk and white-tailed deer. It is believed that direct body contact is one of the causes of disease transfer. Also, body fluids like urine can contribute to spreading disease.
The symptoms are revealed after months or sometimes years after deer contracting the disease. However, as per MDWFP, some symptoms involve animals losing weight thus also losing their appetite, while an insatiable thirst is developed. They prefer to keep themselves isolated and far from herds, walk in patterns, keep their head lower, grind their teeth and salivate.
There should be instant treatment and precautionary measures provided to infected and surrounded animals. So that the disease could be controlled before it’s too late.