Chronological History Of Chronic Wasting Disease
1967 - First identified as a
clinical disease in captive mule
deer at a research facility in Fort
1978 - CWD classified as a
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE). Other
TSEs in animals include scrapie
in domestic sheep and mad cow
1981 - The Colorado Division of Wildlife identifies CWD in
wild elk. This is the first documented case in a wild cervid.
1985 - The Colorado Division of Wildlife confirms the presence of CWD in a wild mule deer
for the very first time.
The Colorado Division of
Wildlife attempted to eliminate
CWD from the Fort Collins
Foothills Wildlife Research Facility by treating the soil with chlorine, removing the treated soil
and applying an additional chlorine treatment before letting the
facility remain vacant for more
than a year. The effort was unsuccessful. The Wyoming Fish and Game
Department identified CWD in a
wild mule deer, marking the
state’s first case of CWD in a wild
1996-CWD was found for the first time outside of the Colorado/ Wyoming CWD “endemic zone” in a captive elk farm in
2003-Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) introduced two bills created to assist
states in combating the spread of CWD; the National Chronic Wasting
Disease Task Force Establishment Act and the Chronic Wasting Disease Research, Monitoring, and Education Enhancement Act.
Congress approved a bill that includes $4.2 million to expand research on CWD in wild deer and elk populations.
2004-Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced creation of a
federal interagency working group to identify gaps in scientific knowledge about abnormal prion proteins and promote coordination of prion research projects by federal agencies.
CWD was set as a national priority for piloting a Wildlife Disease Action Plan by the Canadian Councils of Resource Ministers.
2006 - University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers discovered
that infectious prions adhere to specific soil minerals where they remain
2009 - Researchers found that prions are shed in the feces of earlystage CWD-infected deer.
Colorado State University researchers were granted $2.5 million from
the National Science Foundation to study transmission of CWD.
2012-First case of CWD found in captive Pennsylvania deer.
Information supplied by the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance