| | Disease Threatens Deer and Elk Herds State wildlife officials in Colorado have quarantined 1,300 elk and recently killed nine for testing out of fear that some elk sold and shipped to private ranches in as many as 15 states may be infected with chronic wasting disease, a fatal illness in deer and elk similar to mad cow disease in sheep and cattle. The state reported six cases recently, with five traced to one Colorado ranch where elk were raised and sold for breeding. Over the past five years, there apparently have been 245 cases of infected elk shipped to ranches as far east as Pennsylvania. It is not known if the disease can be transmitted to humans by eating deer or elk meat or by coming into contact with their fluids. Nor is it known exactly how animals are infected, although it is thought that soil can be contaminated for decades by the remains of an infected animal.
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