A Review of Chronic Wasting Disease Management Strategies

Abstract

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a highly infectious, fatal prion disease affecting cervids (deer, elk, moose). CWD has rapidly spread through North America since its discovery in the ‘60’s and is expected to emerge in British Columbia (BC). CWD poses ecological, cultural, and socio-economic risks, making its management complex. To better understand the most strategic and potentially successful management options for BC, we performed a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature where we searched for the terms “CWD” or “chronic wasting disease” in combination with “management” across three databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed). After reviewing the titles and abstracts, we identified 264 relevant articles after two rounds of screening. The breakdown of papers discussing common topics are: 28.9% harvest/culling strategies, 25.7% human dimensions of management, 25.7% surveillance, and 10.2% environmental management. We used a One Health lens – which recognizes the interconnections between humans, animals, and the environment –to evaluate management strategies. We categorized management strategies into the One Health domains based on their primary focus; the majority of papers targeted animal strategies. Our key findings are 1) many managers consider integrating multiple strategies to manage CWD, 2) understanding local biology and landscape factors are important to identifying appropriate management measures, 3) stakeholder participation is crucial to management success, 4) mathematical models can be used to inform management by projecting potential outcomes, and 5) in many cases, management considerations have been theoretical, not applied in practice. These results reveal important considerations to strengthen CWD management strategies in BC.

Faculty Supervisor: Kaylee Byers, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Research Team Members: Sarah Robinson, Cait Nelson, Caeley Thacker