CWD map

Technophobe: I just had to post this: 'coz "zombie Bambi!"

ZOMBIE BAMBI Sickness like mad cow disease is spreading in US deer – and could infect humans

    Gemma Mullin, Digital Health Reporter

    3 Dec 2019, 10:02Updated: 3 Dec 2019, 10:03

A DEADLY infection similar to mad cow disease is spreading in deer - and could infect humans, experts have warned.

Officials are monitoring cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD), which attacks the brain, spinal cord and other tissue, in North America.
Chronic Wasting Disease (CDW) attacks the brain, spinal cord and other tissues and causes the animal to waste away, pictured is an infected deer
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Chronic Wasting Disease (CDW) attacks the brain, spinal cord and other tissues and causes the animal to waste away, pictured is an infected deerCredit: Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the disease - sometimes referred to as 'zombie deer' - has now spread to at least 26 states.

Around 12 months after an animal is infected with CWD, it suffers progressive weight loss, listlessness, drooling, lack of awareness, lack of fear and aggression before the infected animal dies.

The disease is caused by proteins (called prions) that attack the brain and spinal tissue.
Similar symptoms

Symptoms are similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, and its human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which is incurable and killed more than 100 in the UK in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

CWD, which was discovered in 1967, is spread through bodily fluids, either directly or through contamination of soil, food, or water.

There’s no treatment or cure for CWD, and it’s fatal to animals who become infected.

Experts fear the disease could easily make the leap to humans through infected meat.
Human transmission

Dr Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told the Independent: “We could be having human transmission occurring today and we wouldn’t even know it.

“The key issue here is that unlike the mad cow disease, here we see (chronic wasting disease) in the muscle as well, so it’s actually much more present in the meat that you’re eating.

"Cooking doesn’t do anything to destroy it.”

    It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when
    Peregrine Wolffveterinarian with the Nevada Department of Wildlife

Peregrine Wolff, a veterinarian with the Nevada Department of Wildlife, reportedly warned there was no way to stop CWD from harming the state’s deer populations.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, she told local politicians: “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. We know that we can’t wrap Nevada in a bubble.”

So far, there have been no known human transmissions of the disease, according to the CDC.

However, a recent study found for the first time that macaques could get the virus after eating infected meat, sparking fears that a variant hitting humans could soon emerge.
So far the disease has been detected in 26 US states
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So far the disease has been detected in 26 US statesCredit: CDC

Source:   https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10471697/sickness-mad-cow-disease-spreading-deer/