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Volume 32, Number 4—April 2026

Dispatch

Chronic Wasting Disease in Farmed Cervids, South Korea, 2001–2024

Young Pyo Choi, Yu-Ran Lee, Hoo Chang Park, Yoon Hee Lee, Gordon Mitchell, In-Soon RohComments to Author , and Hyun-Joo SohnComments to Author 
Author affiliation: Korea Brain Research Institute, Daegu, South Korea (Y.P. Choi); World Organisation for Animal Health Reference Laboratory for Chronic Wasting Disease, Gimcheon, South Korea (Y.-R. Lee, H.C. Park, Y.H. Lee, I.-S. Roh, H.-J. Sohn); National and World Organisation for Animal Health Reference Laboratory for Scrapie and Chronic Wasting Disease, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (G. Mitchell)

Main Article

Table 1

Occurrence stage and animals affected by CWD in farmed cervids, South Korea, 2001–2024*

Occurrence stage No. farms CWD testing, no. positive/no. tested
Total Red deer (Cervus elephus) Elk (C. canadensis) Sika deer (C. nippon)
Imported elk stage, 2001–2005
2001 4 9/177 – 9/177 –
2004 5 12/75 – 12/75 –
2005
 1
 2/130
 –
 2/130
 –
Initial domestic transmission stage, 2010
 3
 19/185
 6/80
 6/82
 7/23
Endemic stage, 2016–2024
2016 8 44/299 22/62 6/151 16/86
2018 6† 13/359 7/91 5/218 1/50
2019 4‡ 62/391 52/162 10/224 0/5
2020 4 104/672 9/65 70/471 25/136
2021 3† 21/290 4/46 14/171 3/73
2022 7† 60/463 1/12 53/367 6/84
2023 5 34/573 – 34/481 0/92
2024
 3§
 49/439
 0/5
 46/429
 3/5
Total 53 429/4,053 101/523 267/2,976 61/554

*CWD, chronic wasting disease; –, no species testing. †Includes 1 recurrence farm in Gyeongnam province where CWD recurred after remediation and subsequent reintroduction of cervids. ‡Includes 1 recurrence farm in Chungnam province where CWD recurred after remediation and subsequent reintroduction of cervids. §Includes 1 recurrence farm in Jeonnam province where CWD recurred after remediation and subsequent reintroduction of cervids.

Main Article

Page created: February 20, 2026
Page updated: April 09, 2026
Page reviewed: April 09, 2026
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