JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri deer hunters who head out during the fall season are being asked to help the state determine the spread of chronic wasting disease, especially in northern counties.

The Department of Conservation will take tissue samples from Sept. 15 through Jan.

They’re looking for the disease in Adair, Chariton, Linn, Macon, Randolph and Sullivan counties. Hunters are asked to take their deer to collection points that will be set up in those areas.

The disease has been confirmed in Macon County.  In Kansas, deer bagged in more than a dozen counties have been confirmed with the disease.  Find the map and the list from at the Web site of the Centers For Disease Control.

Chronic wasting disease attacks the central nervous system of white-tailed, mule and other types of deer. It can be spread by contact between animals and through the carcasses of diseased deer. The disease has been found in wild deer in north-central Missouri’s Macon County.