Illinois has added Putnam, Marshall, Adams, and Peoria counties to its list of chronic wasting disease (CWD)-affected areas, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) announced today.

The Putnam, Marshall, and Adams cases of the fatal neurologic disease were detected in February during routine surveillance of hunter-harvested white-tailed deer, while the deer in Peoria County was a 2-year-old showing signs of CWD infection. The deer in Adams County, in west-central Illinois, is the first documented case outside of the state's northern CWD-endemic region.

First documented in Illinois in 2002 in Winnebago County near Roscoe, on the northern border with Wisconsin, CWD has spread to 25 counties. The other affected counties are Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, Livingston, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, and Will.

"Illinois is a national leader in managing and slowing the spread of CWD, and over the past two decades IDNR's program has served as a model for other states," IDNR Director Natalie Phelps Finnie, MS, said in a news release. 

The IDNR recently revised its CWD management program, launching a 5-year pilot project.

Hunters advised to have deer tested

CWD affects cervids such as deer, elk, and moose, causing signs such as weight loss, drooling, lack of coordination, and lack of fear of people. The disease is caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions, which spread via direct contact or environmental contamination.

"While the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not linked CWD to human transmission, they recommend against eating meat from CWD-positive deer," the IDNR said. "Hunters are encouraged to have their deer tested and avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, and other tissues known to harbor the CWD agent."

Mpox activity in African countries continues at a steady pace, with the region averaging about 3,000 new cases each week and the situation intensifying in Uganda, health officials from Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said yesterday at a briefing.

Yap Boum, PhD, MPH, deputy incident manager for Africa CDC’s mpox response, said Africa has now received more than 1 million mpox vaccine doses, but officials estimate that the region needs 6.4 million doses over the next 6 months to slow down the spread of the virus. Kenya this week received its first mpox delivery, which consisted about 10,000 doses. 

Striking rise in Uganda

According to Boum, Uganda accounted for 50% of cases over the past week. “This is striking,” he said, adding that Uganda is juggling multiple infectious disease threats, including its Ebola Sudan outbreak and one involving Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. Regarding Ebola, Boum said if no new cases are reported in the weeks ahead, Uganda is on track to declare the event over on April 26. 

Exposure in sexual networks is driving mpox activity in Uganda, which is seeing spread in slums and urban areas. Half of last week’s cases were reported from the cities of Mbarara and Masaka, Boum said, adding that the country is seeing high numbers of deaths in people with underlying health conditions.

In an encouraging development, Uganda received 100,000 more doses of mpox vaccine and immunized 20,000 people in just one week, he said, praising the role of vaccine donors, immunizers, and Ugandans offered the vaccine.

Elsewhere, Boum said steady activity continues in the main hotspot, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), though testing coverage remains a problem due to insecurity in the eastern part of the country and health funding cuts that have hampered the transport of mpox samples to testing labs.