Yellowstone National Park confirmed the first case of chronic wasting disease, a highly contagious and fatal brain disease in animals.
The National Park Service reported on Tuesday that Yellowstone National Park and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed that the carcass of an adult mule deer buck tested positive. The deer was found near the southeastern section of the park along Yellowstone Lake.
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Although chronic wasting disease has been present in Wyoming since the mid-1980s, this is the first confirmed case of the disease within the popular national park. The disease was first found in the United States in Colorado in the late 1960s.
The disease is caused by a malformed protein, prion, transmissible in deer, elk, and moose. Prion accumulates in the brain and other tissues, causing physiological symptoms and behavioral changes.
“Signs of CWD include listlessness, weight loss, increased drinking and urinating, excessive drooling and head lowering,” according to the National Park Service.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Experts believe CWD prions can remain in the environment for a long time, so other animals can contract CWD from the environment even after an infected deer or elk has died.”
Scientists have been able to infect squirrels, monkeys, and laboratory mice with the prion, indicating that human transmission of the disease may be possible. Other studies testing the transmissibility of the disease to macaques, or lower-order primates that are often used medically because of their genetic similarity to humans, have been inconclusive.
Since 1997, the World Health Organization has stressed the importance of preventing these prions from entering the human food chain.
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The National Park Service said that Yellowstone staff are prioritizing collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other relevant state agencies to increase monitoring for the disease in deer, elk, and moose within the park. Yellowstone staff will also strengthen carcass sample testing.
Yellowstone’s Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Plan is currently being updated in response to this week’s detection. Park management anticipates completing the plan in 2024.
