Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, has been detected in Putnam, Marshall, Adams, and Peoria counties, expanding the geographic presence of the disease in free-ranging deer populations in northern Illinois. Adams County is the first documented case recorded outside of the leading edge of the CWD endemic region.
CWD is an always-fatal neurological disease that affects the long-term health of white-tailed deer in Illinois.
First documented in Illinois in 2002 near Roscoe, CWD has been detected in 25 counties across northern Illinois and now as far south as Adams County in west-central Illinois.
According to the Illinois DNR website, the department continues a “targeted surveillance program” for CWD in wild deer, which the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, a diagnostic and research service investigating wildlife diseases, first proposed; more information can be found on the IDNR website as well.
