Herd-level risk factors associated with chronic wasting disease-positive herd status in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin cervid herds.

The objective of this study was to evaluate risks related to introduction of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) to farmed cervid herds in Minnesota (MN), Pennsylvania (PA), and Wisconsin (WI). This was the first study to evaluate risk factors related to multiple pathways of CWD transmission to farmed cervid herds. Participating herds in this case-control study included 22 case and 49 control herds identified through participation in the respective mandatory State CWD herd program.

Contact tracing for the control of infectious disease epidemics: Chronic Wasting Disease in deer farms.

Contact tracing is a crucial component of the control of many infectious diseases, but is an arduous and time consuming process. Procedures that increase the efficiency of contact tracing increase the chance that effective controls can be implemented sooner and thus reduce the magnitude of the epidemic. We illustrate a procedure using Graph Theory in the context of infectious disease epidemics of farmed animals in which the epidemics are driven mainly by the shipment of animals between farms.