Disease surveillance and monitoring efforts by the Department of Natural Resources during the 2007 white-tailed deer hunting season showed that the prevalence rate for bovine tuberculosis (TB) dropped to 1.4 percent in Deer Management Unit 452. DMU 452 is the core area of the TB outbreak in northeastern Lower Michigan that includes parts of Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency and Oscoda counties.

The prevalence rate during the 2006 season had spiked to 2.3 percent, after seeing a decline to 1.2 percent in 2005.

Dr. Steve Schmitt, DNR wildlife veterinarian, expressed some caution while reviewing the information for 2007 with the Natural Resources Commission last week. Schmitt said that deer baiting and supplemental feeding in DMU 452 still remain a serious concern because those activities can increase the risk of disease transmission among deer. Biologists also have some concern that over the past two years the deer population in the area has been on an upward trend. Both factors could be obstacles in the DNR's efforts to eradicate the disease, Schmitt noted.

"While we have made much progress in controlling and eradicating this disease, we still have much work to do," Schmitt said. "Baiting and feeding remain problematic in the core TB area in northeastern Michigan, and this creates situations where the disease transmits easily from deer to deer."

In 2007, the DNR tested 8,305 deer statewide for bovine TB and 27 deer were positive. In 2006, 7,902 deer were tested and 41 were positive. The DNR also tested 192 elk for bovine TB, and none were found to have the disease. In 2006, 161 elk were tested, and one was TB-positive.

Schmitt said that DNR surveillance and monitoring for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) showed that none of the deer or elk that were tested had the disease. CWD has not been detected in Michigan since surveillance efforts started in 1998. In 2007, the DNR tested 1,354 free-ranging deer, 190 elk and seven moose for CWD. To date, nearly 22,000 deer, 800 elk and 42 moose have been tested.

For more information on bovine TB and CWD, please visit the State of Michigan's Emerging Diseases Web site at www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases.