Virus responsible for deer death in the Hudson Valley

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NEW YORK Two white-tailed deer in Ulster County recently died after contracting an epizootic hemorrhagic disease.

The State Department of Environmental Conservation said on Wednesday the two deer were found in the town of Esopus. There have been reports of several other dead deer in Dutchess, Ulster and Westchester counties.

Officials said the virus that causes the often fatal disease is transmitted by biting midges, small insects called no-see-ums or “punkies.”

The disease is not spread from deer to deer, and humans cannot be infected with deer or midges bites.

The epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus was first confirmed in the state in 2007 with relatively small outbreaks in Albany, Rensselaer and Niagara counties and in Rockland County in 2011.

The DEC said that from early September to late October 2020, a large outbreak of the disease occurred in the lower Hudson Valley, centered in Putnam and Orange counties, with about 1,500 deer in dying.

Health officials have said that once infected with the disease, deer typically die within 36 hours.

Outbreaks are more common in late summer and early fall, when midges are plentiful.

Symptoms include fever, hemorrhage of the muscles of the organs, and swelling of the head, neck, tongue and lips.

A deer infected with the disease may appear lame or dehydrated. Frequently, infected deer seek water sources and many die near a water source.

There is no treatment or way to prevent epizootic hemorrhagic disease. Dead deer do not serve as a source of infection for other animals.

Outbreaks do not have a significant long-term impact on deer populations, but deer mortality can be intense in small geographic areas.

It is endemic in southern states where there are annual outbreaks, so some southern deer have developed immunity. In the northeast, however, outbreaks occur sporadically, so New York deer have no immunity to the virus.

As a result, more infected deer in New York are expected to die.

In the north, the first hard frost kills the midges that transmit the disease, ending the epidemic.

Sightings of sick or dying deer should be reported to the nearest regional DEC office or to the environmental protection officer.

The DEC will collect deer samples and analyze the data from the deer reports to determine the extent of the outbreak. Additionally, DEC has alerted veterinarians in the region’s Agriculture and Markets Department to be aware of the disease and to report suspected cases among captive deer.

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