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More than half of Tennessee's counties — 53 of 95 — have reported EHD deer deaths, with 22 being classified as severe. All of the severe counties are in a contiguous region, with the exception of Anderson and Union counties in East Tennessee.
TWRA Wildlife Disease Coordinator Roger Applegate said that some localized pockets of EHD outbreak could see deer die-offs as high as 40% of the total herd. However, TWRA biologists are stressing that the disease is natural and does not pose a threat to humans or the long-term health of the herd.
EHD has been naturally occuring among deer herds for at least the past half-century, and likely much longer. It typically occurs to some degree each year in the fall, as gnats (or midges, often called "no-see-ums" by humans) bite deer and infect them with the disease, which is similar (and often incorrectly identified as) blue-tongue disease. Infected deer often die, traveling to the nearest available water as their fever rises when they near death. As a result, dead deer are often found around watering holes.
This year, the deer deaths are turning up earlier than usual. While TWRA officials have expressed concern, they add that the disease itself is nothing to get alarmed about, and so far there are no indications that reduced harvest limits might be put into place this year or last year.
"What makes this year a little alarming is that the reports started coming in early August, several weeks earlier than usual," Daryl Ratajczak, TWRA Big Game Coordinator, said.
"We most often start getting the dead deer reports in the last week of August and first part of September," Applegate added. "However, the most important thing for hunters, landowners and the public to know is that this is a regular and natural event that routinely afflicts white-tailed deer and that is not transmissible to humans or any other animals. The public also need not be overly concerned about the fate of the deer because any reduction in deer numbers in a local area will easily be made up within a couple of years."
Some have speculated that drought or heat might make an EHD outbreak worse, since the outbreak seems particularly bad this year. However, there is no indication that either will worsen an EHD outbreak. Still, the last major outbreak of EHD in Tennessee occurred in 1999, which saw similar, though stunted, conditions that this summer's extreme weather conditions has brought.
On any given year when EHD breaks out, a large number of deer are infected with the disease but do not die. As a result, they develop an immunity to it, similar to chicken pox in humans. Does with that immunity pass the immunity on to their fawns as well. This leads to several years between cycles of a severe EHD outbreak as those deer die out due to the natural, cyclical process of nature. The last major outbreak of EHD in Tennessee was eight years ago.
While this year's outbreak seems bad, Ratajczak said that there will be no way to get a full handle on the extent of the outbreak until TWRA examines animals at check-in stations during the fall hunting seasons.
"Although it is unfortunate, EHD die-offs are part of a completely natural cycle that has been occurring for eons," Ratajczak said. "The deer obviously deal with it, we must deal with it as well."
The outbreak will end once the first frost, likely to be sometime in October, has killed out the biting midges.
