DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa game officials and deer hunters are taking extra precautions this season in the wake of an emerging threat of a chronic fatal disease affecting deer. The Telegraph Herald reports that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources plans to collect as many deer samples in northeastern Iowa as it can this hunting season to test for chronic wasting disease after the first case in Dubuque County was confirmed in January. Samples also will be collected from surrounding eastern Iowa counties.

The disease attacks the brains of deer and elk and is always fatal. No human cases have ever been recorded, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people to not eat meat from infected animals. The disease has become increasingly prevalent in parts of the Midwest, including Wisconsin and Minnesota.