Rate of deer brain disease increases in southwest Wis.

Wisconsin wildlife officials say last year's testing of whitetail deer for chronic wasting disease shows the rate of the deadly brain ailment is increasing.

The Department of Natural Resources says the disease prevalence for bucks at least 2 and a-half years old in an area of western Dane County and eastern Iowa County was 15.5 percent in 2008, compared with 10 percent in 2007.

The prevalence for yearling bucks was 6 percent last year, double what it was in 2007.

CWD was discovered in wild deer in southern Wisconsin in February 2002.

The DNR says that since then, nearly 152,000 deer have been tested for the disease, with 1,172 testing positive.