 |
|
Mid 1700s
|
Scientists identify sheep infected
with "scrapie", the first documented transmissible spongiform
encephalopathy (TSE) in mammals to cause brain and behavior disorders. |
1967 |
Researchers at a wildlife facility in northern
Colorado first identify CWD in mule deer. But, at that time, it was recognized
as a clinical “wasting” syndrome. |
1978 |
The clinical wasting syndrome is identified
as a type of TSE. |
1982 |
Stanley Prusiner, a biochemist at the University
of California at San Francisco, identified that misshapen proteins, called
prions, were involved in the development of scrapie. |
1983 |
Colorado and Wyoming wildlife officials
begin ongoing surveillance for CWD in free-ranging deer and elk in those
states.
|
Mid 1980s |
CWD first detected in free ranging deer
and elk in contiguous portions of northeastern Colorado and southeastern
Wyoming. |
1986 |
Officials in the United Kingdom first recognize
that their cattle are infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, a
prion disease also known as “mad cow.” They later conclude that
cattle could have contracted it by eating feed containing material infected
with scrapie. |
1996 |
Evidence begins to mount that there’s
a link between humans eating beef from infected cows and their development
of a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a human prion disease. Britain
begins slaughtering millions of its cattle in an effort to stop the spread
of mad cow disease. |
1997 |
CWD is found in South Dakota. Prusiner
wins Nobel Prize in Medicine. |
1999 |
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(WDNR) begins surveying wild white-tailed deer for CWD infection. |
2000 |
The European Union Scientific Steering Committee
concludes that it is likely that cattle in Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal
are infected with mad cow disease. |
2001 |
CWD is found in free ranging deer in areas
of Nebraska, bordering Colorado and Wyoming, and also in two wild mule deer
in Saskatchewan. |
Feb. 2002 |
Three tissue samples taken from deer killed
near Mt. Horeb, Wis., test positive for CWD. They provide the first evidence
of the disease in the state, as well as the Midwestern region of the country. |
March |
WDNR launches effort to collect 500 deer
for tissue sampling in a 415-square mile region centered around the area
where the three deer tested positive for CWD; two more deer test positive.
The WDNR begins to hold a series of public information meetings throughout
the state. |
April |
Five more deer test positive, bringing the
total to 10. |
May |
Four additional samples from deer collected
in March and April test positive. |
June |
The Natural Resources Board approves the
plan to kill 25,000 deer in a 361-square mile region of Dane, Iowa and Sauk
counties. The first of four special, one-week hunts takes place. |
July |
The practice of feeding and baiting deer
in areas of Wisconsin becomes illegal. WDNR announces expansive statewide
plan to sample some 50,000 deer—about 500 from each county outside
the management zone—during 2002. |
August |
WDNR reports11 more cases of CWD infection
among deer killed both within the management zone and just on the periphery.
The agency increases the zone by 28 square miles, bringing the total area
to 389-square miles. Minnesota wildlife officials report their first case
of CWD infection in a farm-raised elk. Some 450 researchers and managers
throughout the country attend a two-day conference in Denver, Colo., to
discuss CWD. |
September |
Two deer shot at game farms, one of which
is in Portage County, test positive for CWD. |
October |
As of Oct. 11, 2002, a total of 32 Wisconsin
white-tailed deer have tested positive for CWD. |
