Endemic chronic wasting disease causes mule deer population decline in Wyoming

• Published in: PLOS ONE
• Main Authors: Justin Binfet, David R. Edmunds, Bryan J. Richards, Melia T. DeVivo, Matthew J. Kauffman, Todd E. Cornish, Terry J. Kreeger, Brant A. Schumaker, Hermann M. Schätzl
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017
• Subjects: Research Article; Biology and Life Sciences; Organisms; Eukaryota; Animals; Vertebrates; Amniotes; Mammals; Ruminants; Deer; Zoology; Animal Diseases; Animal Prion Diseases; Chronic Wasting Disease; Medicine and Health Sciences; Infectious Diseases; Prion Diseases; Zoonoses; Equines; Mules; Women's Health; Maternal Health; Pregnancy; Obstetrics and Gynecology; Ecology; Community Ecology; Trophic Interactions; Predation; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; People and places; Geographical locations; North America; United States; Wyoming; Veterinary Science; Veterinary Diseases; envir; demo; Alces alces
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186512; http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5648191; http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5648191?pdf=render; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186512&type=printable; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186512; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29049389; https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70192640; http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017PLoSO.1286512D/abstract; https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2765932507

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni), and moose (Alces alces shirasi) in North America. In southeastern Wyoming average annual CWD prevalence in mule deer exceeds 20% and appears to contribute to regional population declines. We determined the effect of CWD on mule deer demography using age-specific, female-only, CWD transition matrix models to estimate the population growth rate (λ). Mule deer were captured from 2010–2014 in southern Converse County Wyoming, USA. Captured adult (≥ 1.5 years old) deer were tested ante-mortem for CWD using tonsil biopsies and monitored using radio telemetry. Mean annual survival rates of CWD-negative and CWD-positive deer were 0.76 and 0.32, respectively. Pregnancy and fawn recruitment were not observed to be influenced by CWD. We estimated λ = 0.79, indicating an annual population decline of 21% under current CWD prevalence levels. A model derived from the demography of only CWD-negative individuals yielded; λ = 1.00, indicating a stable population if CWD were absent. These findings support CWD as a significant contributor to mule deer population decline. Chronic wasting disease is difficult or impossible to eradicate with current tools, given significant environmental contamination, and at present our best recommendation for control of this disease is to minimize spread to new areas and naive cervid populations.