Influence of genetic relatedness and spatial proximity on chronic wasting disease infection among female white-tailed deer

1. Social organization and interactions among individuals are suspected to play important roles in the transmission and potential management of wildlife diseases. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate sociality in wildlife disease transmission. We evaluated the hypothesis of socially facilitated transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) among adult female white-tailed deer using spatial location and genetic relatedness for 1387 female deer, and spatial locations of 1321 adult male deer harvested during 2002-2004 CWD control efforts in Wisconsin, USA. 2. Genetically related female deer were significantly clustered at distances of