University of Minnesota researchers have developed a new field test for chronic wasting disease.
The team reported its findings in southeast Minnesota last month, making them the first-ever scientists to successfully deploy a CWD field test. Researchers say the test is cheaper and produces quicker results.
The U of M scientists are investigating several new approaches with the hopes of obstructing the disease’s spread to deer in the state.
A deer farm in Beltrami County was recently identified as being CWD-exposed, and the DNR will survey deer this fall to see if any local wild deer are found with the fatal disease.
CWD is spread among members of the deer and elk family through fluids that contain CWD prions, a infectious protein that triggers normal proteins in the brain to fold abnormally, causing the neurodegenerative disease.
