Microbiologist Rod Keller does a run-through in preparation for chronic wasting disease testing at the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Photo by Jens Odegaard.
Sept. 10, 2025
By Jens Odegaard
This year, for the first time, Oregon hunters can have their harvested deer and elk tested for chronic wasting disease by an in-state laboratory. The Oregon State University Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, will perform all CWD testing in the state.
Previously ODFW sent samples to Colorado for testing. The OVDL is located on the OSU campus in Corvallis, Oregon. With testing happening in-state, the turnaround time for results will be reduced from three to four weeks to a week or less – meaning hunters can more quickly know if their harvested game is free of the disease and the ODFW can respond rapidly in case of a positive result.
CWD 101
Chronic wasting disease is an always fatal neurological disease caused by misfolded proteins called prions that affects deer, elk and other cervids (learn more at the U.S. Geological Survey website). The most obvious symptom is dramatic and progressive weight loss in infected animals. Animals may also show behavioral changes like obliviousness to surroundings and reduced fear of humans. One nickname for the disease is “zombie deer disease” because of the dramatic effect it has on the animals.
“It's 100% fatal. There's no cure, there's no vaccine, there's no treatment. It's arguably the most important disease of wildlife and particularly deer, elk and moose in North America,” said Dr. Colin Gillin, ODFW’s chief veterinarian.
The disease is passed between animals by both direct and indirect contact with body fluids which shed the prions into the environment. For instance, a healthy deer could contract the disease by eating foliage that had been previously grazed or urinated on by a contagious animal. CWD can be shed in urine, feces, saliva and infected cervid tissues.
Though there are no known cases of CWD infecting humans according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, it “is related to another prion disease in animals that does infect people. So, it is considered a theoretical risk to people.” The related disease is mad cow disease. The CDC advises that people avoid eating meat from CWD infected animals.
ODFW field biologists around the state collect tissue samples from harvested deer and elk at hunter check stations. Photo courtesy of ODFW.
CWD and Ore.
To date, CWD has not been found in Oregon, but that’s expected to soon change. The disease is prevalent in cervids in Idaho, including directly across the Snake River from eastern Oregon. It’s also been found in pockets of Washington and California.
“I'll be shocked if we don't diagnose it relatively soon," said Kurt Williams, director of the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, which is housed in the Gary R. Carlson, MD, College of Veterinary Medicine.
Dr. Gillin first launched ODFW's CWD testing efforts in 2002 with just a few hundred samples. He’s steadily increased that and expects 5,000 or more tests to be sent to the OVDL this year starting in October. He concurs with Dr. Williams. “With 5,000 deer and elk samples tested a year, I would guess we likely will find it.”
Gillin credits the new partnership with OVDL as key to helping manage the game plan for the disease if found in Oregon. ODFW sets up checkpoints across Oregon during hunting season, and hunters who pass through will have their deer and elk sampled for CWD testing.
Hunters provide their contact information and ODFW field biologists take tissue samples from the brain and lymph nodes located below the animal’s skull.
Additionally, it is legal to salvage meat from deer and elk struck by vehicles in Oregon. You must fill out a free permit within 24 hours of salvaging and surrender the head and antlers to ODFW within five business days. “So, testing road-killed deer and elk is mandatory,” Gillin said. Samples from roadkill make up about 18-22% of the tested deer and elk, according to Gillin.
All ODFW samples will now be sent to the OVDL, where microbiologists Wendy Black and Rod Keller will lead the testing process. “We are looking for the presence or absence of infectious Prion antigens (PrPSC), which are proteins naturally found in the body that have misfolded, subsequently killing brain cells over time,” wrote Black in an email.
To do the testing, the OVDL utilized funds allocated by the Oregon legislature to hire Keller, train additional personnel and purchase $200,000 in testing equipment. “We are pretty excited to offer this testing to the hunters of the state with hopes of providing quicker turnaround time for results than what has been experienced in the past,” Black wrote.
Tissue samples from harvested deer and elk collected at ODFW check stations throughout Oregon will be sent to the OVDL in Corvallis, Oregon for quick testing. Photo courtesy of ODFW.
Containing CWD
In addition to quicker test results for hunters, Dr. Gillin believes partnering with the OVDL will help his team’s overall response to CWD if found in Oregon. With CWD, containment is the name of the game. Prions shed by animals through body fluids stay in the environment for years. Once an area is contaminated with CWD, it stays contaminated.
“We presume that wherever we find it in Oregon, that zone will be contaminated for decades,” Gillin said. “Say the disease starts in the northeastern part of the state, we have a plan to do a determination of prevalence and distribution of the infection … We can potentially reduce animal numbers to try to reduce prevalence, so we don't have more animals getting the disease. Having a quick testing turnaround allows for a quick response so the disease doesn't spread quickly to other parts of the state.”
Through containment, the goal will be to keep disease prevalence in a cervid herd low. “What we would like to do is keep the prevalence under 2%,” Gillin said.
These types of partnerships are core to the mission of the OVDL. “We're more than willing and eager to step up when there are new disease challenges. It’s one of the most important functions of the lab,” Williams said. “This is going to give us a window into the health of Oregon's environment through the health of the cervids in the state. “I think it's so important for Oregonians, whether or not you're a hunter. Everybody who lives in Oregon loves to go outdoors. It’s not that you should be concerned with contracting chronic wasting disease when you’re hiking and stuff, but if you're out there, you ought to be concerned about the environment."
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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