HARRISBURG — According to tests conducted for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, chronic wasting disease was not detected in samples taken from hunter-killed deer during the state's 2007 hunting season

In 2007, 3,800 samples from hunter-killed deer were tested and CWD was not detected.

First identified in 1967, CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that affects all species of deer and elk. It is a fatal disease that scientists theorize is caused by an agent called a prion that transforms normal brain proteins into abnormal form and, in turn, destroys brain cells.