BALLARD COUNTY, Ky. — For the first time ever, a case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been confirmed in Kentucky.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife announced on Thursday that a positive case of CWD was detected in Ballard County near Paducah, Ky.
The confirmed case was found in a 2.5-year-old male white-tailed deer. Fish and Wildlife officials say two independent tests were conducted last month after a hunter harvested a deer and both tests came back positive.
CWD is a fatal neurological disease in white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, caribou, and moose. This is Kentucky's first documented case of the disease.
This disease is highly contagious and has spread widely across deer and elk populations in North America over the past twenty years.
CWD is difficult to eliminate once introduced, according to Fish and Wildlife officials, therefore crews are working to quickly manage the spread of confirmed CWD cases and keep CWD out of Kentucky.
Fish and Wildlife officials say there is no evidence that CWD can be transmitted to people, but the CDC recommends not eating deer infected with the disease.
Deer hunting season in Kentucky closes in about a month.
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