Wichita ? Researchers plan to kill and test deer to determine how widespread the infestation of chronic wasting disease is in the state’s wildlife population now that Kansas has confirmed its first case of the brain-destroying ailment.

Biologists at the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks began meeting Wednesday to decide how many brain tissue samples they must collect from whitetail and mule deer in the area where the first case was found, said Bob Mathews, spokesman for the department.

Because no test exists for live animals, enough deer will have to be killed to obtain a statistically reliable sample, Mathews said.

“We aren’t going to dodder on this thing. We are going to move as quickly as possible on whatever additional sampling will occur in the next few weeks,” he said.

A whitetail doe shot near St. Francis in northwest Kansas during last year’s hunting season was confirmed this week as the state’s first case of chronic wasting disease. The area is reputed to be one of the best deer hunting areas in the state, containing both whitetail and mule deer and known for its trophy animals.

Chronic wasting disease, a close relative of mad cow disease, is untreatable and always fatal to infected deer, elk and moose, but it is not believed to be transmitted from deer to people or livestock.

Wildlife officials are about halfway through testing the nearly 2,000 brain tissue samples taken across Kansas during last season’s regular deer hunt. The state’s 2005 state deer firearms season ran from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11, and bow-hunting season ran from Oct. 1 through the end of December.

So far, the department has found no other suspected cases in the samples collected.

A decision on the length and regulations for the 2006 deer season is typically made at the April meeting of the Wildlife and Parks Commission. Wildlife officials currently have nothing under consideration that would limit hunting anywhere in the state.

“First we have to establish whether this occurrence was limited to a single animal or whether it may occur to others in that vicinity. That is why we are sampling,” Mathews said.

If it is found to be an isolated case, the department does not expect any profound impacts on the hunting season, he said.