Concerns from epidemiologists are growing that chronic wasting disease, colloquially known as zombie disease, may be able to spread from deer to humans, but public health agencies are remaining optimistic.
“We’re dealing with a disease that is invariably fatal, incurable, and highly contagious,” Cory Anderson, an epidemiologist at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told the Guardian.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CWD affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer, and moose, and it has been found in North America, northern Europe, and Asia.
Symptoms of the disease, ranging from drastic weight loss and neurological problems, can take over a year to incubate. There is no treatment or vaccine for animals against the disease.
Ecologists and epidemiologists increasingly have sounded the alarm regarding CWD since the first instance of the disease was found in Yellowstone National Park in November. CWD is in 31 states, including Virginia and Maryland.
Public health officials more broadly have raised concerns over the increasing prevalence and danger of emerging zoonotic pathogens, with human settlement and agricultural productions increasingly coming into contact with environments inhabited by possibly infected animals.
The World Health Organization classifies CWD in the same category as scrapie disease in sheep and goats and bovine spongiform encephalopathies, or Mad Cow Disease. Both diseases produce similar symptoms to CWD.
In March 1996, the WHO reported the first case of Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD, “a rare and fatal human neurodegenerative condition” with similar symptoms to CWD and Mad Cow Disease. vCJD is strongly linked to consuming infected meat.
Although the WHO has strongly recommended health and safety standards for meat product surveillance since 1997, the Alliance for Public Wildlife estimated in 2017 that over 7,000 CWD-infected animals will be eaten by humans unknowingly.
Michael Osterholm, who works with Anderson, told the Guardian that CWD is a “slow-moving disaster.”
A CDC spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that “to date, there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people.”
The CDC recommends that hunters in areas with CWD take several precautions, including having venison tested for the disease before consumption.
Hunters are advised to not shoot or handle meat from deer or other animals that look sick or are acting strangely. When field dressing a deer, the CDC advises wearing rubber gloves and minimizing the handling of organs, especially the brain and spinal cord tissue.
The CDC spokesperson did not respond to concerns from academic epidemiologists regarding the potential for accidental spread of the disease.
The National Institutes for Allergies and Infectious Disease did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
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In November, National Park Service officials said in a press release that its staff was in coordination with relevant state agencies in Wyoming to increase monitoring for the disease among deer, elk, and moose within the park, as well as improving carcass sample testing for the pervasiveness of the disease.
NPS and the National Park Foundation did not provide the Washington Examiner with updated information when asked for comment.
