Zombie Deer Disease (CWD) and the Urgent Call for Action 2024

Zombie Deer Disease

Zombie deer diseases, or chronic wasting disease, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are prion illnesses that affect deer, sika deer, and reindeer. It is found in a few areas that are part of North America, including Canada as well as those in the United States, Norway, and South Korea.

Key Facts

Wildlife departments across the nation have witnessed the alarming effects of chronic wasting disease, also known as zombie deer disease, with devastating results for wildlife populations across the country. A neurological infection called chronic wasting disease affects members of the Cervid family of hoofed mammals such as deer, elk, and moose, leaving them listless, disoriented, and often separated from each other, like in a horror film.

An infectious and deadly disease has rapidly spread throughout the US, reaching wild animals in 31 states as well as captive herds of deer in Colorado and two locations near New York state borders. The illness, known as “prion disease,” involves misfolded proteins destroying cells until an animal succumbs to it and dies.

CWD-infected animals may spread prions through direct contact—for instance, by touching an infected deer’s mouth, nose, or genital area—or by contaminating food, water, or soil with bodily fluids like feces, saliva, or urine from themselves and infecting other deer. CWD infection typically lasts one year before deer become fatally infected and die within four years on average.

Researchers still do not know whether chronic wasting disease (CWD) will directly impact people, yet they remain concerned that it could. One major risk associated with current testing methods for CWD involves living deer only and can take days or weeks for results, meaning an infected animal could already have spread it further or been eaten as food by people.

CWD: Symptoms in animals

• Extreme decrease in body weight (wasting)
• Stumbling.
• Lack of coordination.
• Drooling.
• Excessive thirst or frequent urination.
• Drooping ears.
• Lack of fear among the people.

Zombie deer disease-Tips for preventing diseases in humans

For optimal safety, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advises not shooting, handling or eating the meat of deer that appear sick or have been found dead (road-kill). Instead, individuals are advised to wear rubber or latex gloves while dressing the animal or manipulating its carcass and limit touch with organs and tissues of any living being as much as possible, particularly spinal cord and brain tissues. It’s best not to use knives from your kitchen or any other tools that would normally be found in a kitchen to dress the field.

History

Recently, wildlife experts have expressed serious alarm over what has become commonly known as zombie deer disease—chronic wasting disease (CWD), an infectious neurologic condition that primarily targets free-ranging deer, elk, and reindeer (cervidae). CWD belongs to a class of diseases known as prions, which cause brain damage that ultimately results in their deaths. In rare instances, it may even affect humans; these cases remain extremely uncommon.​The disease was first discovered in 1967​

CWD spreads either directly through animal-to-animal contact or indirectly through infected carcasses that harbor deformed prions for years, leaving deer especially susceptible. Cervids such as deer are particularly prone to the disease, which attacks their nervous systems, leaving them drooling, lethargic, and with an empty stare. CWD has been found in nearly 800 Wyoming samples from deer, elk, and moose, with fatal outcomes due to no treatments or vaccines currently being offered against it.

As soon as deer disease was first identified in Yellowstone National Park, some scientists issued warnings of its potential spread to humans and associated symptoms reminiscent of mad cow disease. But no evidence shows infected meat has had any harmful impact on people, suggesting there might be some kind of species barrier keeping deer disease from reaching human populations. Prion diseases are spread by misfolded proteins, triggering further misfolded proteins to misfold and creating even more diseased prions that eventually reach humans as well.

What We Don’t Know

Chronic Wasting Disease, commonly referred to as CWD, has spread throughout 24 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces since 2014 and caused deaths across three species. CWD is caused by prions that also cause mad cow disease; when exposed to animals, they attack brain tissue, leaving porous and spongy tissue, along with drastic weight loss, listlessness, drooling, excessive thirst or urination patterns, or aggressive behaviors known as zombie animals, which give these “zombie” animals their name; hence, “zombie animals.”.

While no clear evidence has emerged to link CWD with human diseases or the consumption of meat contaminated with it, its danger remains extremely grave. CWD spreads through direct animal contact or soil contamination; proteins from it travel far distances via plants; or they can remain present over long periods.

Current methods do not enable fast testing for prions in meat or processing surfaces, while CWD tests take days or weeks to reach us; consequently, hunters and conservationists advise individuals against eating any deer meat until scientists gain more knowledge of this disease.

Conclusions – Zombie Deer Disease

Yellowstone National Park’s recent outbreak of chronic wasting disease (CWD), one of several deadly prion diseases that cause brain tissue destruction by misfolding and replicating proteins abnormally, has reignited interest in the zombie deer phenomenon known as the “zombie deer phenomenon.” CWD affects all species yet is most prevalent among cervids, such as deer. Unfortunately, no vaccine or cure exists to combat CWD; once animals become infected, they remain so until their deaths. No treatment or vaccine exists to counter its effects, which include weight loss, listlessness, drooling, and walking head down, similar to being in an altered state or stupor-like state reminiscent of sleepiness, causing them to lose weight and exhibit lethargic, listless behavior, resulting in eventual lethargy and eventual lethal collapse.

Animal-to-animal contact may be a source of transmission; however, deer infected two years or longer before showing symptoms may still harbor infectious prions that other deer or elk pick up through bites, grooming interactions during mating season, or scrape marking activities, spreading the infection further.

CWD may be devastating for cervids, yet it poses no immediate threat to humans; its cause has yet to appear in our bodies. Still, its continual spread among herds should make us wary that eventually CWD could reach further and affect us too.

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