Zombie Deer

Health experts urge people, especially hunters, to keep an eye out for symptoms of a disease called chronic wasting disease, an infectious disease that is spreading across the country via deer, elk, and moose. This fatal disease may be transmittable to humans.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is described by experts as a progressive, fatal disease. The disease can incubate for years, meaning that the symptoms might not be apparent for many years after infection. The disease affects the brain, spinal cord,and other tissues in animals, and has been documented in at least 24 states as of January, according to the CDC.

The disease is believed to be spread through bodily fluids like feces, saliva, urine, and blood, by both direct and indirect contact. There are currently no treatments for this disease.

The symptoms have been compared to those of science-fictional zombies. Symptoms include extreme weight loss, stumbling, lethargy, drooling, excessive thirst and/or urination, drooping ears, lack of fear of humans, and aggression.

There have been no confirmed animal to human transmissions yet, but many health experts think it’s just a matter of time. It is predicted that the disease will be documented in humans in the years to come, due to the probability of humans eating infected deer meat. Expert Michael Osterholm says that, “It is possible that the number of human cases will be substantial and will not be isolated events.” What he doesn’t mention is the fact that if this disease takes years to appear in deer, who’s to say that there aren’t already infected humans that aren’t presenting symptoms yet?

Laboratory studies show that the CWD’s mutated protein (called a prion-a similar disease caused by a prion is mad cow disease) is capable of infecting animals that share many genes with humans, such as squirrel monkeys, macaques (a genus of Old World monkeys), and lab mice. One study by German and Canadian researchers found that macaques could be infected by eating meat from infected deer, as well as deer that had CWD but had not shown any symptoms yet

The CDC’s website states that, “There is no strong evidence for the occurrence of CWD in people, and it is not known if people can get infected with CWD prions.” However, the CDC adds that, “these experimental studies raise the concern that CWD may pose a risk to people and suggest that it is important to prevent human exposure to CWD.”

While the disease is more commonly present in states like Nebraska and Wisconsin, it has spread geographically since it was first discovered in 1967, and there have been reported cases of infected deer in areas close to Frostburg, too. Several counties in West Virginia and Virginia have gotten reports of infected deer, as well as five counties in Pennsylvania and Allegany County in Maryland.

Guidelines provided on how to properly field-dress deer to minimize exposure include wearing rubber or latex gloves when handling the meat, minimizing contact with the animal’s brain, spinal cord, spleen, and lymph nodes, and cleaning the knives and utensils used to harvest the animal with a 50/50 solution of chlorine bleach and water.