Presentations from the
7th Annual OFWIM Conference
Baltimore, Maryland
November 1st-5th, 2002

Chronic Wasting Disease Data Integration Through the NBII Wildlife Disease Information Node (Dein - USGS/BRD)

The discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease this year in Wisconsin has caused a significant amount of concern for wildlife managers. There are many unanswered questions regarding the leapfrog advance of this disease from its known existence in the west, across the Mississippi River. This fall, many state and federal agencies are planning extensive testing programs to determine the true prevalence of the disease, many in areas where sampling has never before occurred. Assembling results from both free-ranging and captive deer and elk in a centralized location will allow disease ecologists to gain insights into little known aspects of CWD biology, focusing on more accurate geographic prevalence, mode of transmission, age-sex class distribution, and captive-wild relationships. These data will allow better models to be constructed to predict potential disease expansion and the probable success of various management strategies. The NBII Wildlife Disease Information Node (see Poster Session) will serve as a convenient repository for CWD testing data, allowing agencies to either enter sampling information directly into the Web based system, or make file transfers. This secure, centralized system will enable agencies to avoid the expense of developing their own stand-alone systems.

Visit the CWD/NBII Web site at: http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov

This presentation available as:
PowerPoint presentation (Dein): Chronic Wasting Disease Node (PPT)
Adobe Acrobat Reader file (Dein): Chronic Wasting Disease Node (PDF)