Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said said there is no link between Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in Fayetteville hospital and chronic wasting disease be

[Emily]

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/m...eases-not-lin/

AGFC says human, animal diseases not linked

By Bryan Hendricks
Posted: March 18, 2016 at 5:45 a.m.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission at its monthly meeting Thursfay in Little Rock said there is no link between a case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease reported Wednesday in Fayetteville and chronic wasting disease in Newton County.
Both diseases are forms of spongieform encephalathy that destroy a victim's central nervous system. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease affects humans, and chronic wasting disease affects cervids such as whitetailed deer, elk and mule deer. An elk killed in October near Jasper was confirmed to have chronic wasting disease in February, and a whitetailed deer found dead in February near Ponca was confirmed to have CWD earlier this month.
...
Steven Beaupre, chair of biological sciences at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, is a non-voting member of the commission. He said Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is often linked to the consumption of beef infected with mad cow disease, the bovine form of spongieform encephalthy.
"The timing couldn't be worse but the chances that this has anything do with discovery of chronic wasting disease in our state are astronomically small," Beaupre said. "The Centers for Disease Control says there is currently no evidence of transmission of chronic disease prions into humans....

Article on CJD case:

http://5newsonline.com/2016/03/16/op...gton-regional/


Confirmed cases of CWD have increased significantly as results of sharpshooting sampling are coming in:

http://swtimes.com/news/state-news/c...imals-arkansas

Posted March 24, 2016 - 12:37pm
Chronic Wasting Disease Confirmed In 19 More Animals In Arkansas
Arkansas News Bureau


LITTLE ROCK — Nineteen more animals in northern Arkansas have tested positive for chronic wasting disease, bringing the total to 22, according to the state Game and Fish Commission.
...
“This is not good news,” the commission’s chief of wildlife management, Brad Carner, said in the release. “We were hopeful that all positive samples would be contained within our focal area. That’s obviously not the case. We also hoped to find a low prevalence rate in the test samples. We’re disappointed, but still focused on the job at hand.”...

http://katv.com/news/local/27-new-ca...nd-in-arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says that another 27 cases of chronic wasting disease have been found in deer and elk in the state.
The commission said Thursday the positive cases came from a recent batch of samples taken in northern Newton County, bringing the total number to 50...