LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Chronic Wasting Disease has been found in a white-tailed deer in Ballard County, Kentucky, near Paducah. 

This is Kentucky's first documented case of the disease. 

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife said Thursday that two independent tests were conducted last month after a hunter harvested a deer. Both came back positive.

Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD, is a fatal neurologic disease in deer, elk, and other species in the deer family.

There is no evidence that the disease can be passed on to people, however, there is another brain disorder in humans with similar symptoms called Creutzfeldt Jakob disease. 

Officials still advise against eating the meat from game animals that appear to be sick or in poor condition.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife's Gabe Jenkins is encouraging hunters to donate the heads of legally harvested and tele-checked deer for testing and aging. There is no cost to hunters.

"For me, it's just the incentive of wanting to do the very best that I can when I go to feed my family, so I want to have that animal tested to ensure that the disease is not detected in it before I feed them," Jenkins said. 

Deer hunting season in Kentucky closes in about a month.

Chronic wasting disease has spread to more than half of  U.S. states including six of seven states bordering Kentucky. 

Kentuckians can help prevent the spread of CWD in the state by reporting sick or abnormal-behaving deer. Reports can be made by:

C​all Kentucky Fish and Wildlife at 1-800-858-1549 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern) on weekdays.

For more information about the department's efforts to prevent the spread of CWD, click here.

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