Western blotting, and en2yme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). New 

 technologies may provide additional means of detecting abnormal prion proteins 

 in the future. 



Official CWD tests are performed only at approved university, State, or Federal 

 veterinary diagnostic laboratories. If the animal to be tested is a farmed deer or elk, 

 accredited veterinarians should check with Federal or State regulatory veterinarians 

 for information on sample collection and appropriate sample submission. If the 

 animal to be sampled is a wild deer or elk that is suspected of having CWD, accred- 

 ited veterinarians should inform State and Federal authorities and work with their 

 State wildlife management agency to find out how officials would like the sample 

 collected and submitted. Check with the State animal health official or APFilS-VS 

 Area Office to determine whether CWD testing is being conducted in hunter-killed 

 deer. However, the wildlife management agencies have other alternatives they may 

 choose to use as well. 



If the animal to be sampled is a clinically normal wild animal that an individual 

 hunter would like tested, accredited veterinarians should also work with their State 

 wildlife management agency or department of agriculture to find out how best to 

 proceed. Several laboratories exist with sufficient capacity to provide fee-for-service 

 testing for samples collected by individual hunters. Accredited veterinarians should 

 always check with the diagnostic laboratory to make sure samples are properly 

 collected, packaged, and shipped. 



Disposal — Carcass and tissue disposal options may be regulated by the 

 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), FDA, or State or local authorities. 

 Accredited veterinarians should check with these entities first before disposing 

 of a suspect or positive carcass. 



Management — APFilS has provided assistance to State officials in diagnosing CWD 

 and in monitoring international and interstate movements of animals to help prevent 

 further spread of CWD. An extensive nationwide surveillance effort was started in 

 1997-98 to better define the geographic distribution of CWD in free-ranging cervids. 

 Surveillance for CWD in farmed elk began in 1997 and has been a cooperative 

 effort involving State agriculture and wildlife agencies and APFIIS. Farmed cervid 

 surveillance has been increasing each year since 1997 and will be an integral part of 

 the USDA program to eliminate CWD from farmed elk. 



Moreover, USDA has continued to develop a national herd-certification program to 

 eliminate CWD from farmed cervids. The program includes fencing, identification, 

 inventory, and surveillance requirements for herd advancement. After 5 years of 

 surveillance with no evidence of disease, a herd is considered to be certified. A 

 proposed rule to establish the herd-certification program and restrict interstate 



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