Mo. deer tests positive for wasting disease

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Department of Conservation says one adult deer has tested positive for chronic wasting disease out of about 800 recent test samples.

The department says it's collected about 1,700 tissue samples from deer harvested during the fall archery and firearms seasons by hunters in north-central Missouri. The disease was found in that part of the state in five deer earlier this year.

The department says of the 800 test results received so far, one deer from Macon County tested positive.

Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disease spread among deer through physical contact or contact with soil containing the waste of an infected deer.

The hunter-harvest sampling effort continues until Jan. 15. Results of the full testing will be available next year.