Improved turnaround time for testing chronic wasting disease in deer, elk
Since 2021, the provincial government has identified 30 positive cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in wild cervids. The government has improved testing turnaround times and is stressing the importance of having hunters participate in the CWD surveillance program.
The province has been monitoring CWD in wild cervids, including deer, elk, moose, and caribou, since 1997, and it identified the first positive case in 2021.
Four positive CWD cases were identified during the past hunting season (2024-2025) due to mandatory biological sampling submissions and provincial harvesting efforts, which are part of the CWD surveillance program. The program aims to reduce the spread of fatal and infectious diseases.
During the 2024-2025 hunting season, the province improved the average turnaround time for CWD test results and processed about 3,100 samples.
“This past year saw success in the program’s efforts to streamline processes, reduce staffing requirements and cut testing times significantly, while expanding licensed hunting opportunities. The average turnaround time for test results was 22 days this year, compared to 37 days in 2023-24 and 77 days in 2022-23,” states a Feb. 14 provincial news release.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal central nervous system disease caused by one or more strains of proteins called prions. According to the province’s CWD webpage, once infected, the prions first propagate in the lymph nodes and tonsils and later in the brain, spinal cord and other organs. The disease belongs to a group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
Prions are shed in saliva, feces, urine and possibly through the cervids’ remains. Infected animals tend to be less alert and fearful, lose weight, become uncoordinated and often drool excessively. It can take two to five years for the animal to die. There is no cure for CWD.
There is no direct evidence to date that CWD can spread to humans, but available data suggest the risk is “not zero.” Various health organizations, such as Health Canada, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization, advise people not to eat meat from CWD-positive animals.
In November 2021, the province found its first CWD case in a mule deer buck in western Manitoba near Lake of the Prairies. The buck was considered unhealthy, acting unnaturally and euthanized by provincial staff.
A spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures said all four of the positive cases identified in the latest surveillance season originated from an existing CWD area: Game Hunting Area 27 in southwestern Manitoba.
“Wild cervids move regularly across jurisdictional borders, making it difficult to determine if CWD-positive animals are from within Manitoba or are transient animals from other areas,” said the spokesperson. “At present, CWD is being detected in low numbers in the province’s southwestern corner, which suggests these animals are entering the province from neighbouring jurisdictions that have higher rates of CWD prevalence, such as Saskatchewan and North Dakota.”
He said, “There have been no CWD cases on elk farms in Manitoba.”
“The prevalence of CWD remains very low in Manitoba. The province continues to encourage hunting, which can help decrease deer population densities and reduce CWD risks,” said the spokesperson. “Hunters are already required by law to submit CWD samples across the province’s CWD surveillance zone.”
The CWD surveillance zones contain 25 different game-hunting areas. According to the province’s website, hunters can either submit the entire head and upper neck of their animals or extract tissue samples themselves (lymph nodes and lower jaw of mule and white-tailed deer and the brain stem and lower jaw of elk) and submit them. The department is reviewing the surveillance program to potentially require additional sampling in the current CWD zone and elsewhere.
