Ohio Valley Outdoors Magazine

EHD dents deer population in many states

By Larry Claypool, OVO Editor

It’s a common disease that takes a nick out of the deer population across the country each year. Sporadic deaths are caused from epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) annually say wildlife clinicians. Only this year sporadic cases involving EHD became more regular, more wide spread, and deadlier. Although it’s tough to estimate how many deer have been lost due to the spread of the killer disease, it appears to have eliminated deer in several states and in big numbers. It is the most common ailment to affect deer in the Eastern United States.

Hunters, land owners and wildlife officials from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have reported considerable deer deaths. DNR officials from all three states are monitoring the effects of the disease, which is carried by a small biting midge, or knat. Many states across the country are doing the same.
Pennsylvania officials have estimated that at least 1,000 deer have been claimed by EHD. In Ohio, suspected or confirmed cases have been reported in 32 of 88 counties. In West Virginia, 20 of 55 counties have been affected by the outbreak. Other states reporting EHD-related deaths include; Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Indiana, Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York and Texas.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources reported deaths in 76 counties and state biologists claim the outbreak is the worst in at least 30 years. Tennessee officials say the mortality of deer lost in their state has hit at least 30 counties.

Wildlife officials have credited an unusually dry summer in many states with the larger than usual outbreak. The warm weather that extended through early fall also contributed to spreading the disease. “This outbreak of EHD is more significant than the one in 2002 and has impacted more deer in a larger area,” said Dr. Walter Cottrell, Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Veterinarian. “The fact that we found EHD in early August means that the disease has had the opportunity to be active longer this time prior to the first good frost, which is what is needed to kill the insects responsible for spreading the virus.”

According to an Ohio DNR press release the gnats, which live near water, will be suppressed with the onset of cold weather, “as frosts drive the gnats into winter inactivity.”
With that said, the widespread affects of the disease has been more intense in 2007 with little assistance from the weather, which helped contribute to spreading the virus.
EHD mostly effects whitetail deer but has been known to claim cattle and sheep. The West Virginia Agriculture Department has reported a few incidents in cattle and sheep in that state. In western Pennsylvania it was reported in mid-October that a calf near Hookstown was succumbed to the disease.

Ohio Division of Wildlife Management Supervisor David E. Kohler agreed the virus can be found in other animals but not necessarily back and forth between deer and livestock. “Gnats can also spread EHD among cattle and sheep, and outbreaks may happen at the same time as deer are being impacted. However, this is not a case of the disease spreading from deer to livestock or vice versa, but is an indication that the biting gnats are present in large enough numbers to spread the disease,” said Kohler.
According to an ODNR press release the disease is not spread from deer to deer or from deer to humans. ”Once infected, deer show symptoms within five to 10 days. Infected deer initially lose appetite and fear of man, grow progressively weaker, often salivate excessively, and become unconscious. Many deer die within 36 hours of the onset of symptoms,” said the release.

EHD is a tough disease to track down because it can only be diagnosed from fresh specimens. It doesn’t help that an inflicted animal decomposes very quickly after death. Tissue samples need to be collected within 24 hours of death to be suitable for testing.
The disease will not harm humans but deer displaying severe symptoms of EHD are usually not suitable for consumption because of the rapid deterioration of the meat and secondary bacterial infection. Deer that recover from the virus — not all animals die from the disease — are O.K. to eat according to reports. Humans are not at risk by handling an infected deer.

Here are some other interesting details about EHD, provided by the ODNR.

• There is little that can be done to prevent the spread of EHD.

• Initially animals may be depressed; feverish; have a swollen neck, tongue or eyelids or have difficulty breathing.

• Because deer have a high fever, they are often found near water.

• Deer will progressively grow weaker, will salivate excessively and finally become unconscious.

• Hemorrhaging and the lack of oxygen in the blood results in a blue appearance to the mouth and possibly the tongue.

• Although symptoms are similar to chronic wasting disease (CWD), there is no relationship between EHD and CWD.

• The last significant EHD outbreak was in 2002, but not nearly as widespread.

• Mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope are also susceptible to the disease.

• Suspected cases of EHD first appeared in Ohio in 1980 and 1996 in Pennsylvania. The outbreak was confirmed in Pa. in 2002 after 70 deer were killed in Greene and Washington counties. The disease was first identified in 1955 in New Jersey. It’s also common in portions of the northern Great Plains and southeastern United States.