By Kanina Holmes

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The third case of chronic wasting disease, a disorder similar to "mad cow" disease, has been found in a wild deer in Saskatchewan, wildlife authorities reported on Thursday.

This latest positive test, in a 3-year-old wild mule deer, emerged after analysis of 185 deer culled by wildlife officials in the spring.

"It just again confirms that we've got a problem in that particular local herd," said Kevin Omoth, the disease manager for the prairie province.

"Obviously, we will continue to be pretty aggressive in that area, trying to reduce the deer herd in an effort to control or maybe even eradicate it," Omoth said from Regina.

All three of the animals infected with the fatal neurological disorder have come from the Manito Sandhills, an area in southwestern Saskatchewan near the Alberta border.

The brain-wasting illness belongs to the same family of diseases as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or TSEs.

Over the last several years, about 100 people in Europe have died from a human version of that disease. Health officials believe their deaths were a result of eating beef tainted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (news - web sites), also called mad cow disease.

The first two cases of chronic wasting disease in wild deer in Saskatchewan were discovered in 2001. In March of this year, wildlife officials in the province said they were guardedly optimistic after no new cases were discovered out of 4,000 tests.

The province's game farm industry has been reeling since 1996 when the first case of the disease was detected in a ranch elk. Since then, about 227 game-farm animals have tested positive among 42 herds. Food safety officials say that 7,700 animals have been destroyed in efforts to stamp out the troubling disease.

Elk are raised for meat and antler velvet to be used in homeopathic remedies and as aphrodisiacs, popular in Asia.

In March, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency discovered the first case of the disease in an elk on a game ranch in neighboring Alberta.

Scientists do not know the cause of the disease or how it is spread. There is no evidence that it can be transmitted to humans or domestic livestock. The World Health Organization (news - web sites) has, however, advised against eating venison or any part of an animal showing signs of the disease, including listlessness and weight loss.

"It's discouraging that there are continuing to be more positives, but on the other side of this, is that there is some encouragement in that it does not appear to be widespread," said Dr. George Luterbach, a veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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