The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has confirmed three positive cases of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer during the last hunting season.

The deer were found in Noble, Franklin, and Rush Counties. Deer can become sick with CWD through direct contact with another infected deer or living in a contaminated environment.

Joe Caudell, a deer biologist with the Indiana DNR, said just looking at a deer isn't enough to tell if it's sick.

"You can't even tell it has the disease, which is part of the problem," he said. "Just looks like a perfectly normal deer until maybe a hunter shoots it during hunting season, and they're curious if it's got it."

There have been no reported cases of CWD transmission to humans. Caudell noted the state DNR hosts testing sites for legally harvested deer. If the test comes back positive, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends not eating the meat.

Caudell explained that CWD is caused by a misfolded prion – an infection that cannot be placed in a specific category and is not easily detectable.

"It's not a virus, it's not a bacteria, it's not a fungus," he said, "and so it falls into a category of diseases called prion diseases."

Prions are very persistent, said Caudell, and continue to grow in soil despite rainfall or heat. After the first two years of an infection, the deer may look perfectly normal as prions continue to build in its body. With time, the deer becomes disoriented and loses the ability to drink and eat before "wasting" away.

Source: Public News Service