INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tests have not detected any sign of chronic wasting disease in more than 1,000 tissue samples taken from white-tailed deer bagged last year by hunters in Indiana.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources announced the results of the tests this week.

The Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab at Purdue University analyzed the samples that state biologists collected at check stations last fall.

The state has been checking deer for the disease since 2002, and none have tested positive. Indiana's deer population is estimated at between 500,000 and 1 million.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological disease that causes deer o become emaciated, behave abnormally and eventually die.

Illinois, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease in captive and free-roaming deer.